Even by Las Vegas standards, golf course developer and professional gambler Bill Walters considers himself lucky.

Over the past decade, Walters has done land deal after land deal to acquire property for high-end golf courses, then ventured into the more lucrative business of commercial and residential development.

"When it comes to land transactions, we've been darn lucky," Walters told the Review-Journal last year.

As the Kentucky native negotiated deals with Clark County commissioners and City Council members from Las Vegas and Henderson, critics questioned his relationship with the decision-makers. His defenders, however, say Walters is simply a savvy businessman.

Walters showers elected officials with legitimate campaign contributions, then woos them with spectacular plans to beat out competitors vying for vacant property.

Perhaps his greatest victory came in 1998, when developers battled over a 155-acre piece of publicly owned land on the Strip, just south of Mandalay Bay.

Tommy Baker wanted to build a venue for Formula One racing. The Gary Player Design Group and Club Corp. of America, who partnered with local tennis great Andre Agassi, planned a project that included a tennis complex. Walters pitched a golf course.

One of Walters' selling points was that local golfers would pay only $53 per round.

The Clark County Commission vote was unusual. Four members abstained, leaving three to decide to give Walters the lease.

If one were to make a tee time for Bali Hai today, the golfer would pay $325 a round, according to the golf course's online reservation system.

In 1999, Walters prepared to open his Royal Links golf course on property he leased from the city of Las Vegas at a cost of $100,000 a year. On the eve of opening, he and city officials ditched the lease, and Walters bought the land for $894,000, or about $5,600 an acre.

Last year, Walters announced plans to build homes on the land. He offered to pay the city $7 million -- the residential value of the land in 1999 plus 6 percent annually in interest -- to have a zoning restriction prohibiting homes on the property removed from the deed.

According to figures from the Clark County assessor's office, that land is worth about $400,000 an acre.

In 2000, Walters was back before the Clark County Commission -- again with the winning bid. Walters signed a lease agreement for 340 acres of property at Warms Springs Road and Durango Drive. He secured the 99-year lease at no cost after telling Clark County commissioners of his intentions to build two public golf courses and a community park.

Two years after he signed the agreement, he lobbied commissioners to rezone 60 acres to commercial, a more lucrative use of the vacant land. Walters is required to pay the county 50 percent of his revenue once he begins to make a profit on the project.

The remainder of the property, about 280 acres, was never developed, and last year Walters returned it to the county. Walters has started construction of an upscale shopping village at the corner of Warm Springs and Durango.

During the past decade, Walters had primarily developed golf courses. But a combination of high property taxes and steep water fees made operating golf courses difficult and earning a profit nearly impossible, Walters said in an interview last year. The financial challenges prompted him to unload some courses and pursue other types of development.

When Walters struggled to sell Wildhorse Golf Club, a Henderson facility he purchased in 2004 for $9.3 million, he turned to city officials.

Henderson City Council members approved a deal last year in which Walters traded the 138-acre course in exchange for 126 acres of vacant city-owned land that is designated for residential development. The council ruled the difference in the land value was $5.8 million, which Walters paid to the city.

Walters, who is in partnership with American Nevada Corp. on the deal, is permitted to build six homes per acre.

Although Friday's report from the attorney general's office is scathing, Walters has an established reputation for enduring harsh skepticism about his actions and even law enforcement investigations.

Three separate indictments on state money-laundering charges involving Walters' multimillion-dollar sports-betting operation have failed to produce a conviction. After a four-year battle that ended in 2002, Walters was cleared of charges he conspired to place illegal bets with out-of-state bookmakers, then transported his winnings back to Nevada.