While William F. Harrah, the founder of Harrah’s Entertainment, died in 1978, this gaming group has continued to grow in every possible avenue since it was founded in 1937. The entire company began in Reno, Nevada as a small bingo parlor. In the early phases during the life of its owner, the company expanded gradually, buying or building a small series of casinos and hotels in the Nevada region. By 1971, the company had grown large enough that public investment was a wise idea. The company went public and was listed on the U.S. Stock Exchange in 1972 and the New York Stock Exchange in 1973. That’s when it officially became the first casino company in that position.
After the death of the owner, the company went through a series of acquisitions and mergers. In 1980, the first of these occurred with Holiday Inns acquiring the entire company. The acquisition occured for the sake of Holiday Inn’s Nevada region hotels and its classic car collection, which is the largest in the world and is still displayed on the Las Vegas strip.
Larger casinos began to pop up in the late 1980’s and continued into the early years of the new century. Bill’s Casino, Harrah’s Laughlin, Harrah’s Joliet, and the Vegas Harrah’s Casino are just of the few of the noteworthy names. In addition to these casinos, the company acquired additional properties. The most famous is Caesar’s Palace in Las Vegas, which was entirely acquired by Harrah’s in 2005, in addition to all other Caesars Entertainment ventures. This helped them branch into some untapped markets, including the online market with the help of Caesars Online. It’s a well established and popular gaming site for British and European gamblers that was owned by the Caesars Entertainment group. Additional acquisitions continue, as do the construction of new casinos.
