Mike Ensign, one of the pioneers of the modern Las Vegas and the father of former U.S. Sen. John Ensign, has died. He was 79.
As CEO of Circus Circus Enterprises, which eventually became Mandalay Resort Group in 1999, Ensign is credited with helping steer the Las Vegas Strip into the new age of the integrated resort with an emphasis on shopping, dining and high-end accommodations.
“He was the tip of the spear for where gaming is today,” said Nevada Gaming Commission Chairman Tony Alamo, a family friend and Ensign’s long-time physician. “The death of Mike Ensign is an end of an era.”
Circus Circus, founded by William Bennett, another seminal figure in Las Vegas gaming, grew under Ensign to include the Mandalay Bay, Luxor and Excalibur megaresorts, as well as the family-friendly Circus Circus. The group was sold to MGM Resorts International in 2005 for $7.9 billion.
Ensign started his gaming career more than fifty years ago as a craps dealer at Harrah’s Reno. It was there he met Alamo’s father, the senior Tony Alamo, and the two moved to Las Vegas in the early ’70s to join Bennett at Circus Circus.
Ensign later split with Bennett and acquired Gold Strike Resorts, which merged with Circus Circus in 1995 in a $500 million deal that gave Ensign effective control of the company together with former President and CFO Glenn Schaeffer.
Ensign became chairman of the company in 1998 and retired in 2005 after Mandalay Resort Group was sold to MGM.
“He was definitely one of the architects of modern Las Vegas,” said David Schwartz, director of the Center for Gaming Research at the University of Nevada, Las Vegas. “Circus Circus Enterprises in the 1980s was probably the most successful gaming company, probably in the world.”
