When you wish upon Ameristar, you might be able to hit the jackpot on land or boat! Ameristar Casino owns five casino hotels and two casinos, which are located in Missouri, Nevada, Mississippi and Iowa. These casinos offer slot machines, blackjack, craps, roulette, and poker tables. Their properties include movie theaters, shops, entertainment arenas, restaurants, bars and private clubs.
Ameristar Casino was started by Don French and “Cactus Pete” Piersanti. They each started their own casino endeavors in Idaho on a high desert plateau. In 1954 Don French opened a casino by the name of the Horseshu and Pieranti opened the Cactus Pete’s Desert Lodge; which included 3 stockholders. These two casinos gained small profits from the large volume of their customers who played the slot machines rather than high stakes gamblers. Over the years these two gambling facilities expanded at about the same rate. Then in 1964 these two casinos decided to merge and became under the direction of Cactus Pete’s.
In 1967 one of the three stockholders passed away. This led to a change of ownership. Ray Neilsen who had contracted much of the construction work on the properties became the new stockholder. When he passed away his wife Gwen inherited his shares and his son Craig got involved in the daily operations of the company. Craig eventually became the sole owner of the corporation in 1987.
Craig incorporated a free food and drink to all customers who were in his facility. This strategy worked at first and then became no longer enough to attract new customers. So Craig tried a new marketing strategy included “slot club cards” which in the long run strengthened their repeat-customer base. These personalized cards were inserted into the slot machines when customers ...