Builder broke ground in 2003, and the casino opened two years later boasting 662 rooms. Gaughan spent $500 million building South Point, which was called South Coast back then. Michael Gaughan owns and operates the casino, which serves as the primary sponsor of Brendan Gaughan’s NASCAR car. Gaughan has been granted the rights to operate slot concession at Harry Reid International Airport under the name Michael Gaughan Airport Slots, operating over 1,300 slot machines in all of the airport's terminals.South Point Hotel, Casino, and Spa, is one of the newer Las Vegas casinos having opened its doors on December 22, 2005. Michael Gaughan Airport Slots Row of slot machines inside Las Vegas airport In 2021, the Professional Bull Riders (PBR) honored Gaughan with their Jim Shoulders Lifetime Achievement Award.Also in 2017, the ProRodeo Hall of Fame honored Gaughan with its Legend of ProRodeo award.In 2017, Gaughan was inducted in the West Coast Stock Car Hall of Fame.In 2009, Gaughan was inducted into the Gaming Hall of Fame.In 2007, Gaughan was inducted into the PRCA's ProRodeo Hall of Fame.The casino was built at a cost of $600 million. In July 2006, Boyd gaming announced that it was selling the South Coast to Gaughan for an estimated $576 million. In 2004, Gaughan sold Coast Casinos for $1.3 billion to Boyd Gaming. He is also a board member of the National Cowboy & Western Heritage Museum. He serves on the NFR committee and is a longtime sponsor of the NFR and PRCA. He was instrumental in bringing the Professional Rodeo Cowboys Association (PRCA)'s year-end championship event, the National Finals Rodeo (NFR), to Las Vegas in 1985. That casino, on 4.3 acres (1.7 ha) of land, became the foundation for Coast Casinos.

Īfter many roles in casinos, including various ownership roles, Gaughan opened the Barbary Coast Hotel and Casino in March 1979 at a cost of $11.5 million. Gaughan won the 1966 Mint 400 race, and continued that interest with South Point Racing which he founded in 1999 and dissolved in 2007. The team was dissolved at the end of the 2007 season. He is the son of Jackie Gaughan and was the owner of a NASCAR race team, South Point Racing, for which his son, Brendan Gaughan, used to drive. Michael John Gaughan (Main Omaha, Nebraska) is an American casino owner and operator in Las Vegas, Nevada, who is the owner of the South Point Hotel, Casino & Spa. South Point Hotel, Casino & Spa, Coast Casinos

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