Since the creation of modern day Las Vegas, there have always been people lamenting the good ole days, whatever that means to that individual at the time. Determining what is considered “good” is about as subjective as subjective can be. Most people today will point to the time before the strip was primarily owned by 2 companies, MGM Resorts and Caesars Entertainment. While the benefits of consolidation are obvious, potentially the best thing about it is the story of how it all happened. To do that, we are going to have to trace back to how these assets exchanged hands before finally ending up in the corporate portfolio that are currently a part of. To keep the story clean and the timeline defined, we are only going to focus on the majority owners and only their moves in Las Vegas. We’re calling this, the Great Consolidation of Las Vegas

I don’t know what I think about Oscar Goodman. I want to say I respect what he does and if I needed help, I hope my advocate is half the lawyer he is. At the same time what he’s done and who he’s defended troubles me, makes me uncomfortable, ethically even if I’m not sure it should. When Oscar speaks about his clients he does so very deliberately as if he’s making sure he doesn’t say something that would get him in trouble. He claims there was no such thing as the mob even though history has proven it beyond a shadow of a doubt, but that might just be part of his well-polished schtick. Oscar will tell you he’s just really naive but it’s hard to accept because he’s clearly very intelligent. He considers his greatest accomplishment to be his family and he loves his wife very much. It’s clear he passionately enjoys what he does and what he does is defend rights. He’s also incredibly likable although he’s one hell of a ball buster. Oscar is the kind of guy you want to like you even though you’re not sure if you like him.

Recommended Reading - Being Oscar

Siegfried & Roy, Masters of the Impossible, and in their time, as famously associated with Las Vegas as the Fountains of Bellagio are. This act of illusion and tigers captivated audiences and really complimented the family friendly entertainment spectaculars coining phrases like “Only in Vegas”. Let’s not forget, these are grownups going to see a magic show. But part of the interest was that disaster lurked around every corner, every night. At any moment, things could go horribly wrong. The fact that they didn’t sooner may be their greatest magic trick.