Casino legend Claudine Williams dies

Claudine Williams, the first woman to run a Strip casino and considered one of the pioneers who shaped the gaming industry and Las Vegas, died Wednesday after a long illness. She was 88.

Williams operated the Holiday Inn-Holiday Casino on the Strip until the property was sold to Harrah's in the 1980s and renamed Harrah's Las Vegas.

Even then, Williams maintained an office at the resort and advised company executives, including retired chairman Phil Satre and current CEO Gary Loveman.

"She not only had a tremendous impact on our company and was an enormous influence on me, she had an enormous impact on the gaming industry as a whole," Satre said.

Former casino owner Jack Binion, whose family owned the downtown Binion's Horseshoe, said Williams knew the gambling business better than most of the men who operated casinos in 1970s and 1980s.

"Listen, she was the real deal," Binion said. "She lived the business. She started in the gambling business when she was 15. Some of the old time guys in the business couldn't change with the times, but she did. Claudine was a really good friend and a super person. I'm really going to miss her."

Williams, who was born and raised in rural Louisiana and moved to Houston as a teenager, was more than just a casino executive in Las Vegas.

In the 1980s, she was chairwoman of the board for the American Bank of Commerce and she was president of the Las Vegas Chamber of Commerce, the first woman to hold that position. Williams represented the motel industry on the board of the directors of the Las Vegas Convention and Visitors Authority, just one of 28 different boards and commissions she served on in her career.

"Despite having only a ninth-grade education and competing in what was at the time an almost exclusively male-dominated industry, Claudine's achievements were remarkable," Loveman said.

Bill Boyd executive chairman of Boyd Gaming Corp., said Williams was a close friend and colleague.

"She was a phenomenal person who set a new standard for women in our industry, and it's hard to imagine where the gaming business would be without her," Boyd said. "Claudine was respected and liked by everyone she came in contact with and will be missed greatly."

Williams also was a tremendous philanthropist, contributing millions of dollars over the years to charities in Las Vegas and to the University of Nevada-Las Vegas. In 1989, she became the namesake for one of three new campus dormitories after she contributed $500,000 toward the project. She also provided scholarships for a generation of students.

"The greatest gratification I get is helping out people that are trying to make something of their life," Williams told interviewer Joanne Goodwin in UNLV's Las Vegas Woman Oral History Project.

Williams came to Las Vegas in 1965 with her husband, Shelby, a long-time Texas entrepreneur. They bought the Silver Slipper casino on the Strip and operated it for several years before selling the small gambling hall in 1969 to billionaire Howard Hughes, who was living across the street atop the Desert Inn.

Williams told Goodwin that she and her husband took the profits from the Silver Slipper sale and purchased land across the Strip from Caesars Palace for the Holiday Casino, which was adjacent to Holiday Inn.

"Everybody thought we were crazy," Williams told Goodwin. "They said, 'You're going to try to compete with Caesars Palace?' And I said, 'No, there's a lot of people that would rather be in a family-run place than over at Caesars Palace.'"

Williams said she and her husband ran the Holiday Casino "like a Mom and Pop business."

After Shelby Williams' death in 1977, Claudine Williams emerged as president and general manager of the Holiday, a first in Nevada for a woman.

She sold 40 percent of the casino to Harrah's in 1979 and her remaining ownership in 1983. But she was given the title of chairman of the property.

"She took me and so many others in the company under her wing and explained to us both the gambling business and Las Vegas," Satre said. "There are so many people in the gaming industry that she mentored. She was a remarkable woman, and she's going to be greatly missed."

In 2004, Harrah's acquired the Horseshoe casinos in Indiana, Louisiana and Mississippi that were operated by Binion. When the deal was announced, Williams traveled with Loveman and Binion to meet with the employees at the different properties.

"She talked with all the employees and helped calm any concerns they might have had," Binion said.

For Loveman, the most memorable part of the three-day trip was the education about the gambling business he received while spending time with Williams and Binion, whom he said were two of the gaming industry's most cherished historical figures.

"Claudine spoke with her customary grace and charm," Loveman said. "Claudine Williams made something extraordinary of her own life, and in doing so leaves a legacy of decency, integrity, courage and commitment."

Williams was born on March 17, 1921, in DeSoto Parish, La. When she was 12 years old, Williams worked as a waitress in a restaurant that catered to oilfield workers. She got her first casino job when she was 15, dealing cards at a private club in Bossier Parish that offered gambling.

A few years later, she moved her mother to Houston, worked two jobs at restaurants that offered gambling, and met Shelby Williams, a sports book writer. World War II broke out and Shelby enlisted in the U.S. Navy. Claudine Williams, then 20, opened several restaurants that offered gambling.

Harrah's Senior Vice President Jan Jones, a former mayor of Las Vegas, said Williams was a mixture of both grace and tenacity. She had a tremendous work ethic.

"She was a pioneer for either a man or a woman," Jones said. "She educated those guys. When you were in a room with her, there was no question that she was in charge."

Funeral arrangements are pending.

Contact reporter Howard Stutz at hstutz@reviewjournal.com or 702-477-3871.