Merv Griffin dies at 82 | IXGAMES

Entertainer and talk-show host Merv Griffin, who for eight years was a principal player in the Atlantic City gaming industry as the owner of Resorts International, died Sunday in California. He was 82. The cause was prostate cancer, which recurred last month, according to a spokeswoman for his company. Griffin arrived in Atlantic City in 1988 when he bought Resorts and soon became a major promoter of the city, using his celebrity to draw attention to the resort town and refurbishing the aging casino property. With show-biz style, he arrived by helicopter at Steeplechase Pier to take the reins of the city’s first casino. He then drove by limousine a mere half-block to the property as Resorts employees lined the Boardwalk. Griffin’s company purchased Resorts International after a takeover battle with Donald Trump. Griffin paid about $300 million — $96 million of which went to buy out Donald Trumps controlling interest — and received Resorts and the companys holdings in the Bahamas. The purchase left the casino in direct competition with the neighboring Trump Taj Mahal Casino and Resort, which was purchased by Trump in the deal and opened in 1990. At the time of the purchase, Griffin insisted he wasn’t a carpetbagger and had ties to the resort. He pointed appearances he made at the Steel Pier in the resorts heyday, his purchase of a local radio station and his years of living in New Jersey. His biggest break financially came from inventing and producing Jeopardy in the 1960s and Wheel of Fortune in the 1970s. After they had become the hottest game shows on television, Griffin sold the rights to Coca Cola’s Columbia Pictures Television Unit for $250 million in 1986, making him one of the richest men in show business. Making money is not the priority  …Merv Griffin always say!!