Brought down by subprime mortgages, credit default swaps and other high-stakes games, the financial world is giving Las Vegas a bad name.
In recent months, commentators and members of Congress have repeatedly accused banks and investment companies of “operating like casinos.”
Curious about how close the worlds of banking and gambling really are, we took a closer look at just one casino company - Boyd Gaming.
Based in Las Vegas, Boyd is a publicly traded company (NYSE: BYD) that owns casinos in six states. In a joint venture with MGM Mirage, it is also part owner of the Borgata casino in Atlantic City.
The company is headed by lawyer-turned-gambling exec William S. Boyd, whose son and daughter also sit on the board.
Like other industries, the betting biz has suffered losses in the economic meltdown. Boyd reported last month that its income for the third quarter had declined nearly 73 percent from the same period last year.
Its Nevada revenues have dropped in part because of the downturn in the Las Vegas economy, which the firm traced to declines in the local housing market and increased unemployment. Boyd has put its partially built Echelon casino on the Las Vegas Strip project on hold.
The company’s ties to finance extend well beyond feeling the repercussions of the credit crisis. Our Muckety map shows that Boyd directors also serve on the boards of the following banking institutions:
- Western Alliance Bancorporation
- City National
- Federal Reserve Bank of San Francisco
- Nevada Federal Credit Union
- Bank of Nevada
While the overlap between the two worlds is clear, the question remains: Did the gambling culture infect banking, or was it the other way around?
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