Casino owners are the companies behind the resorts, regional casinos and locals joints where you play. The owner or operator decides which rewards program a casino uses, where your tier status carries over and which hotels share comp and room offers, so knowing who runs a casino tells you a lot before you book a trip or join a players club.
Owning a casino and operating it are not always the same thing. Many large operators have sold the land and buildings of their casinos to real estate investment trusts and lease them back, while still running the casino floor, hotel and rewards program. For players, the operator is the name that matters, because it sets the games, the comps and the loyalty perks.
How casino ownership changes
Casino companies buy, sell and merge often, so the name on a building can outlast the company that built it. Today’s Caesars Entertainment is the result of Eldorado Resorts buying Caesars in 2020 and taking the Caesars name. Las Vegas Sands, the company that built The Venetian, sold its Las Vegas properties in 2022 and now runs its resorts only in Macau and Singapore. Boyd Gaming, a Las Vegas company known for its locals casinos and downtown properties, also runs regional casinos in other states.
Casino owner profiles
Each profile covers the company’s history, the casinos it runs today and the rewards program its properties use.
- Las Vegas Sands: How a convention-focused Strip resort company became an operator of integrated resorts in Macau and Singapore, and why it left Las Vegas.
- Caesars Entertainment: The operator behind Caesars Palace, Harrah’s and Horseshoe, and how mergers built it into one of the largest casino companies in the US.
- Boyd Gaming: The Las Vegas operator known for its locals casinos and downtown properties, plus its regional casinos in other states.
Related
- Casino rewards programs: how the players clubs run by the big operators work.
- Caesars Rewards: the loyalty program used across Caesars properties.
- How to earn comps: how casinos turn your play into free rooms, food and free play.
- Bill Harrah: the founder whose name is still on Caesars-owned casinos.
- Failed Atlantic City casinos: what happens when casino owners overbuild in a shrinking market.
Gamble for fun and set a budget before you play. If gambling stops being fun, the National Problem Gambling Helpline is 1-800-MY-RESET (call or text).