Bill Friedman

Bill Friedman has spent 48 years researching the history of the Nevada gambling industry and interviewed almost all the important pioneers. In addition to writing well-documented histories, he has written casino business textbooks. He taught the pioneer course in casino management for UNLV’s College of Hotel Administration during the decade of the 1970s. Friedman was president of the Castaways Hotel and Casino and the Silver Slipper Casino in the heart of the Las Vegas Strip for thirteen years. He transformed them from perennial losers into super successes, consistently in the top of Nevada’s highest profit-per-square-foot performers.

Friedman is president of the Friedman Management Group, which specializes in solving casino marketing, design, and operations problems. He has consulted for forty years to casinos in the U.S. and in England, Monaco, Russia, South Africa, Australia, Canada, and several Caribbean Islands.

Website(s):

Book(s):

Past Shows:

  • Gangs of Las Vegas / Open Lines

    Casino businessman Bill Friedman discussed the history of Las Vegas and the gang leaders who built it. Open Lines followed.More »
  • Las Vegas Crime History/ Primaries & Voting

    In the first half, writer, teacher, and author Bill Friedman discussed the inside story of the criminal careers of the leaders of the three biggest liquor gangs and how they built 80% of the Las Vegas Strip gambling resorts from the Flamingo in 1946 to Caesars Palace in 1966. ...More »
  • Vegas Strip Origins/ Ganja Godfather

    In the first half of the program, George Knapp welcomed author Bill Friedman, who recounted inside stories about the organized crime origins of the Las Vegas Strip. In the latter half, investigative journalist Toby Rogers (book link) shared the untold story of mafia legend...More »
  • True Crime Tales

    George Knapp presided over an evening of true crime stories, beginning in the first hour with investigative journalist Doug Swanson, who shared the astonishing tale of Benny Binion—a rip-roaring saga of murder, money, and the making of Las Vegas. In the second hour, Stapleton...More »

More Guests