Bobby Baldwin, President and CEO, Mirage Resorts, Inc., and Bellagio

He’s no longer living on Tulsa time. Bobby Baldwin, president and CEO of Mirage Resorts, Inc., a wholly-owned subsidiary of MGM Mirage, and president and CEO of Bellagio, has embraced the 24/7 lifestyle of Las Vegas. He now plays an incredible role in the development and growth within the heart of the Las Vegas Strip.

"I spent most of my life in Tulsa, Oklahoma," Baldwin recalls. "I had a morning and afternoon paper route since second grade and made $70 a month. I’d take that money and in my spare time go to the local pool hall and became a pretty proficient pool player.

"When I was 12 years old, I became more interested in what was going on in the back room, and that was poker. By age 14, I finally got into the poker games and everyone in there was 55 or over. Of course, they successfully separated me from my money on a regular basis, but after a couple of years I got where I could beat the game.

"I had my first trip to Las Vegas when I was 19 years old," says Baldwin. "I came out on a junket from Tulsa. The first time I saw Las Vegas I said, wow, I can’t believe this place. This is the place I want to end up." Over the years Baldwin traveled the country as one of its top professional poker players.

In the early 1970s, Baldwin met Benny Binion, founder and owner of the Horseshoe Casino, and his sons Jack and Ted and began to participate in the World Series of Poker. In 1974, he went across the street one day to play in a high stakes poker game and met casino visionary Steve Wynn. "We hit it off that very first day. Steve kept asking me to come work for him. I laughingly kept telling him I could make more money playing cards."

In 1978, Baldwin hit pay dirt. He stunned the poker world, at age 28, and became the youngest player at the time to ever win Binion’s World Series of Poker, walking away with a whopping $210,000 grand prize.

"Finally in 1982, Steve convinced me to come to work for him. Over a short period of time, I became the president of the Golden Nugget. Eventually, we then began to design, develop, finance and build the Mirage, followed by Treasure Island and Bellagio."

In 2000, MGM bought Steve Wynn’s Mirage Resorts, which is now known as MGM Mirage. Baldwin became the president and CEO of Mirage Resorts, and Wynn went on to design, develop and open Wynn Las Vegas.

Baldwin and his very lovely wife, Donna, also give generously to local charitable events and have a special interest in helping find a cure for Alzheimer’s disease. He lost his father to Alzheimer’s in 2001, and he and Donna co-chair an annual fundraiser (Keep Memory Alive) which supports Alzheimer’s research and the building of a local long-term care center for victims of Alzheimer’s disease.

"Las Vegas continues to rebuild it-self, with over $20 billion being just recently invested. The new Spa Tower at Bellagio, itself, is a $400 million expansion with 923 new rooms. We doubled our spa and convention space and created two huge presidential suites. Later we’ll be developing 55 acres just south of Bellagio. The world wants this kind of playground."

A favorite Baldwin gem? "Just like in a poker game, the only way to lose for sure is to never play the hand, and life is kind of the same way." For Bobby Baldwin and his team of leaders at Mirage Resorts, the cards have landed, winners all across the board.

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