Las Vegas Sun

March 29, 2024

Lady Luck founder, arts patron Tompkins dies

Although Andrew Tompkins opposed minors gambling in his downtown Lady Luck hotel, he was cognizant of the value of all future customers.

In August 1991, 19-year-old Greg Collins of Iowa slipped two quarters into a slot machine at the Lady Luck and hit a $509,984 jackpot that had to be forfeited because Collins was under age.

Thirteen months later, for Collins' 21st birthday, Tompkins gave the young man, his parents and two other relatives all-expense paid trips to the Lady Luck so Collins could legally get another shot at hitting it big.

Andrew Tompkins, who in 1963 bought a downtown newsstand upon which he built the Lady Luck and later expanded his gaming empire to other states, died in Honolulu on Friday of cancer. He was 72.

No local services are planned for Tompkins, who along with his wife, Susan, co-founded the Las Vegas Philharmonic in 1998. He was a resident of Las Vegas for 48 years and had lived one year in Honolulu.

"Andy Tompkins was a true Renaissance man," Sen. Harry Reid, D-Nev., said in a news release. "He could speak at length and in depth on politics, art, business, history or any other subject. Andy was not easy to get to know. But once he became your friend, he was a friend for life."

Tompkins shunned publicity. He did not attend Lady Luck hotel tower groundbreakings in the 1980s and granted few media interviews. Yet he was a devout -- and very public -- patron of the arts who for many years made annual visits to Salzburg, Austria, for Mozart festivals.

Above all, Tompkins was a gaming visionary who was among the first to market to the blue-collar crowd.

"We get the working people -- the tourists who can't afford to stay in the big hotels," Tompkins said in a 1974 interview.

Born March 2, 1932, Tompkins grew up in New York City. He got into the hotel business as a teenager, working summers as a bellman, front desk clerk and night auditor for major hotels, including the Hotel Flanders in Times Square.

After graduating from the University of Georgia in 1954 with a bachelor's degree in psychology, Tompkins worked for the Traymore and Ambassador hotels in Atlantic City.

A year later, Tompkins moved to Las Vegas and worked at the Fortune Club and Nevada Club on Fremont Street, eventually becoming general manager. In 1963, he bought Honest John's at Third Street and Ogden Avenue. In 1968, that newsstand and smoke shop with six slot machines was renamed the Lady Luck.

In 1972, Tompkins bulldozed the property and built a much larger casino. In 1982 he acquired the adjacent Nevada Power Co. office, upon which 112 rooms were built. In 1986, he added the east tower with 300 rooms and, in 1989, he built the west tower to bring the room count to 800.

In October 1999 Tompkins sold the Lady Luck and Lady Luck Gaming Corp. to Isle of Capri Casinos.

Tompkins is survived by his wife, Susan Berry Tompkins, of Honolulu; two daughters, Belinda Tompkins of Santa Barbara, Calif., and Laura Tompkins of Honolulu; three sons, James Tompkins and Miguel Innis, both of Honolulu, and Kenneth Tompkins of Newark, Calif.; and a grandson, Kane Andrew Innis, of Honolulu.

The Las Vegas Philharmonic will dedicate its May 8 concert to Tompkins. The family said donations in Tompkins memory can be made to the Las Vegas Philharmonic Endowment Fund, 3271 S. Highland Drive; Suite 702; Las Vegas, NV 89109.

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