Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #36221 in Books
• Published on: 2008-03-04
• Released on: 2008-03-04
• Original language: English
• Number of items: 1
• Binding: Hardcover
• 320 pages

From Publishers Weekly
Former Wall Street Journal reporter Binkley offers this story of the trio of tycoons who took over Las Vegas and transformed it from a crushed-velvet world with a libidinous frontier air into a place where, increasingly and sometimes surprisingly, entertainment and good taste go hand in hand. Binkley provides an inside look at deal-maker Kerkorian, casino visionary Wynn and professor-turned-mogul Loveman and their lavishly competitive lives: their exclusive and aggressive tennis games, the one-way conveyor belt created to transport customers away from a competing casino, the battle to build the biggest and the best. The author shares intriguing details about these power players—Wynn has a secret entrance, behind some fake books on a shelf, to a sprawling closet—and is also adept at portraying a seedier Vegas, where aged Mafia barons dined on the osso buco at Piero's Italian restaurant, their canes hanging from their chairs. Sometimes her chronology gets a little murky. Still, Binkley offers plenty of nuggets mined from her years on the beat, producing a full, flashy tale of powerful men and their pride, vanity, envy, greed—and all the other cardinal no-nos that earned Vegas the name Sin City. (Mar.)
Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

From the Inside Flap
Sin City. Bright lights, high stakes, no sleep. Home to some of the world's grandest, flashiest, and most lucrative casino resorts, Las Vegas' multitude of attractions draws some forty million tourists from around the world every year. But Vegas hasn't always been booming at the level it is today. This newest influx is largely a result of three competing business moguls--and their strategic and creative genius in the race to own Vegas. Meet Kirk Kerkorian, Steve Wynn, and Dr. Gary Loveman, men who couldn't be more different from one another, yet share the same tunnel-vision determination to conquer the city that feeds the world's fantasies.

No longer just a go-to city for gambling, as a result of Kerkorian, Wynn, and Loveman working to reach the top--and to top one another--Las Vegas is now home to restaurants run by some of the world's top chefs, concert and entertainment venues headlined by Hollywood's biggest stars, art galleries featuring some of the world's most valuable pieces, and meta-resorts boasting the largest and most expansive casinos, spas, and more.

Having had personal access to these men, Wall Street Journal reporter Christina Binkley gives us a never-before-seen up close look at the trio of tycoons whose high-stakes gambles made Sin City soar.

Sharp, insightful and revealing, this is the gripping story of how billions of dollars and the unparalleled drive for power made the personal visions of three moguls evolve from dreams to larger-than-life reality.

About the Author
Christina Binkley is a columnist for the Wall Street Journal and spent ten years as their lead reporter covering Las Vegas. A graduate of the Columbia University Graduate School of Journalism, she lives in Los Angeles. This is her first book.

Customer Reviews

Highly enjoyable, and filled with interesting tidbits
I'm sure I'll see Las Vegas in a different light after reading this book. You can't help but be fascinated by these larger-than-life characters. Steve Wynn is without a doubt the most interesting character in the book, but viewing the city as a competition between titans is something I've never really comprehended on trips to the Strip before. It's a great easy read, with lots of interesting facts. I agree with some reviewers who had problems following the (hazy) timeline, but it didn't diminish from the overall enjoyment.

Five-star narrative cheapened by gratuitous slams of Sheldon Adelson
The Wall Street Journal reporter Christina Binkley was that paper's lead reporter in Las Vegas for 10 years. In "Winner Takes All" she pulls together that experience - both the knowledge and her contacts - and delivers a compelling, enthralling narrative of Vegas' transformation over that period.

The book's sub-title says "Steve Wynn, Kirk Kerkorian, Gary Loveman and the Race to Own Las Vegas." Binkley posits that a series of mega-deals have apportioned Vegas into three controlling companies: MGM Mirage (headed by Kirkorian); Wynn (Steve Wynn's eponymous new post-Mirage venture); and Harrah's (helmed by ex-Harvard prof Loveman). Binkley appears to have had little access to Kerkorian, (no one does, but read Bill Vlasic's classic Taken for a Ride: How Daimler-Benz Drove Off With Chrysler for a better peek at him) but ample access to his lieutenants. She obviously had developed a cordial relationship with Loveman. What stands out is her relationship with Wynn and wife Elaine. It's extensive, to say the least. She's clearly enchanted with the guy.

In fact, that relationship leads me to my major problem with the book - it simply lacks credibility to leave Sheldon Adelson - Chairman and CEO of Las Vegas Sand Corporation (Venetian, Sands Convention Center, Palazzo) - out of the story. He, as much as anyone, set the pace for Vegas during Binkley's years of coverage. And, he made the leap to Macao ahead of any of his Vegas peers. It's blatantly obvious from the text that Ms. Binkley has a history with Adelson. Yes, he's famously dyspeptic and probably has little use for her. But Adelson has also feuded publicly and nastily with Steve Wynn. Wynn uses Binkley here quite transparently to take a number of gratuitous slams at Adelson. She's little more than a water-carrier in that regard. That's sad because it detracts from the overall excellence of the book in a very distracting way.

A tale of the tape:

p. 89 - Adelson described as a "would-be mogul" who "irked Wynn"

p. 93 - Adelson is "warring with Wynn"

p. 209 - Adelson described as Wynn's "nemesis and neighbor"

p. 250 - The "eccentric" Adelson takes Sands public and is "catapulted from obscurity to number 19 on the Forbes 400" (Hello?? COMDEX, anyone? This guy was hardly obscure pre-Sands; his success was far from the luck and accident implied here).

p. 271 - 272 - Wynn takes a moment to "pity" Adelson...'It's too bad he's not in better health and able to enjoy it more. He's in a wheelchair.' That's cold, man.

p. 276 - "Loveman lost the Singapore bid to Sheldon Adelson." Adelson didn't win it, right? Loveman lost it. It's like Adelson and team had no role and won by default. Hardly.

I've not cherry-picked the negative references - those are the ONLY references! Juvenile stuff. What a shame.

Fascinating read for anyone who has visited Las Vegas
I just visited Las Vegas and loved it, it was much better than I expected it to be after having toured all around Europe! I bought this book at the airport book store in Vegas as the assistant said that was the book everyone had been asking after. It was a fascinating and entertaining read, with particularly inside information on how Steve Wynn approaches business and also how it contrasts with that of Kirk Kerkorian and Gary Loveman at Harrahs.

I couldn't put it down and recommend it to anyone who has visited Las Vegas and is wondering how it go to be the town that it is today.