Lyle Berman Inducted Into 2016 AGA Gaming Hall of Fame

At the end of September, 3-times WSOP bracelet winner Lyle Berman was inducted into the American Gaming Association’s (AGA) Gaming Hall of Fame, together with four other inductees who have helped shape the gaming industry.
At the induction ceremony held at the Venetian Resort-Hotel-Casino, billionaire casino owner Steve Wynn shared a bit of background about his history with the 75-year-old Minneapolis-born pro, simply stating that he “lost a lot of money sitting across the poker tables from Lyle.”
Bewteen 1989 and 1994, Lyle Berman captured his three WSOP bracelets across a number of different variants of the game, including Limit Omaha, No Limit Hold’em, and No Limit Deuce to Seven Draw. In total, Berman boasts $2,674,432 in live career earnings, with his biggest ever score coming in 2008 after finishing the WSOP $50k H.O.R.S.E. event in 5th for a $444,000 payday.
Nevertheless, it was not Berman’s poker acumen which helped ensure him a place in the AGA Gaming Hall of Fame, but his considerable accomplishments in the business world. Included amongst the long list of innovations he brought to the industry is pioneering the model for building casino resorts, especially in the Mississippi area, after he set up his company Grand Casinos Inc in 1990.
In 1998, Grand Casino subsequently merged with Hilton Hotels to create a global business called Park Place Entertainment which owned 18 casinos, as well as 23,000 hotel rooms. It later became known as Caesars Entertainment and then Harrah’s Entertainment, which is now one of the largest gaming companies in the world. Commenting on the contributions made by Berman to the industry, former Mississippi Gaming Commission director, Larry Gregory, stated:
“We’re deeply indebted to Lyle for investing in Mississippi in the early days. He was a true pioneer in our industry, especially down on the Gulf Coast.”
Other inductees into this year’s AGA HOF held in Las Vegas on Sept. 28th includes casino-tech pioneer John Acres; Las Vegas casino architect Don Brinkerhoff; tribal casino visionary Richard A. “Skip” Hayward; and Atlantic City’s first African-American casino VP Redenia Gilliam-Mosee.