THE GAMBLER

NATIONAL BESTSELLER Offers an entertaining look at Kerkorian s outsize life an interesting portrait of a billionaire Wall Street Journal The rags to riches story of one of America s wealthiest and least known financial giants self made billionaire Kirk Kerkorian the daring aviator movie mogul risk taker and business tycoon who transformed Las Vegas and Hollywood to become one of the leading financiers in American business Kerkorian combined the courage of a World War II pilot the fortitude of a scrappy boxer the cunning of an inscrutable poker player and an unmatched genius for making deals He never put his name on a building but when he died he owned almost every major hotel and casino in Las Vegas He envisioned and fostered a new industry the leisure business Three times he built the biggest resort hotel in the world Three times he bought and sold the fabled MGM Studios forever changing the way Hollywood does business His early life began as far as possible from a place on the Forbes List of Billionaires when he and his Armenian immigrant family lost their farm to foreclosure He was four They arrived in Los Angeles penniless and moved often staying one step ahead of more evictions Young Kirk learned English on the streets of L A made pennie