Bob Stupak, known as the “Polish Maverick,” is truly a larger-than-life character in Las Vegas history for his audacious vision and contributions to the buildings and operations of casinos in Las Vegas.
Stupak’s history began on Mar. 31, 1974, with the opening of Bob Stupak’s World Famous Million-Dollar Historic Gambling Museum and Casino, the Las Vegas Review-Journal reports. Soon after opening, the original property burned to the ground, but Stupak did not give up on his vision and re-established Vegas World in 1979.
Stupak was known for promotions as over-the-top as his casino’s architecture. Vegas World became the venue for the first-ever million-dollar slot machine jackpots and the game ‘Double Exposure 21.’ At the peak of its operations, Vegas World was producing over $100 million in revenues a year.
Stupak’s biggest gamble was his prominent idea to construct a 1,400-foot-high tower, modeled after Sydney’s Tower. The initially conceived structure eventually transformed into the Stratosphere Tower, but only after some cutbacks to just over 1,100 feet, after the FAA had restricted the eventual height.
The tower’s construction was not without issues — a fire in August 1993 caused a major evacuation and delayed the project. When the Stratosphere finally opened on Apr. 30, 1996, financial troubles soon followed. Poor management and concerns about the surrounding neighborhood led to the property filing for Chapter 11 bankruptcy by January 1997.
Financier Carl Icahn subsequently assumed ownership of the casino, setting off a chain of renovations and restructuring, the Las Vegas Sun reported at the time. In 2017, Golden Entertainment Inc. purchased the Stratosphere for $850 million, subsequently renaming it The Strat in 2019. Today, The Strat is really a testament to Stupak’s vision — a lasting monument on the Las Vegas skyline. Stupak died of leukemia on Sept. 25, 2009, but his legacy continues.
Over the course of 35 years, he built a small gambling museum into one of the city’s most identifiable landmarks and in doing so, shaped forever the course of Las Vegas entertainment and casino culture.
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