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Brendan Gaughan: Las Vegas
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Brendan Gaughan (born July 10, 1975 in Los Angeles, California) is a NASCAR racer from Las Vegas, Nevada. Gaughan is the grandson of Vegas gaming pioneer Jackie Gaughan and son of Michael Gaughan, a hotel and casino magnate.
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DAYTONA BEACH, Fla. — Brendan Gaughan played college basketball under John Thompson at Georgetown, so he knows other sports are uptight about gambling. But Gaughan, who now drives race cars, doesn't see anything wrong with betting on himself to win the Daytona 500 at a Las Vegas sportsbook.
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Gaughan attended Georgetown University and played collegiate basketball as a walk-on for the Hoyas with friend, former roommate, and now Philadelphia 76ers guard Allen Iverson. Although legendary coaching great John Thompson rarely accepted walk-ons and despite the fact that Gaughan had been a below average high school basketball player, his father, Michael Gaughan had close business ties with Thompson and Brendan was offered a spot on the team. In 1996 Thompson became embroiled in a bitter controversy with then NCAA president Cedric Dempsey when Thompson contemplated the purchase of a 10 percent interest in slot machine concessions at the Las Vegas airport through Michael Gaughan. Dempsey weighed in on the issue by stating, "It is ill-advised for anyone connected to college sports to be involved, even peripherally, with gambling interests." Thompson quickly withdrew his interest in the investment opportunity but Brendan stayed on the team. Gaughan was often the target of ridicule from Georgetown students during the closing moments of Hoyas' home games when the student section would mockingly encourage Thompson to put the walk-on into the game.
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Brendan and his father, Las Vegas casino owner Michael Gaughan, had tried to get the famously reclusive Mitchell to a race for years, even offering the company plane for transportation. Mitchell declined. To this day, Brendan Gaughan still hasn't met the man who is now his owner.
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John D. "Jackie" Gaughan, Sr. (born October 24, 1920) is a casino owner and operator from the early 1950s in Las Vegas, Nevada. Jackie is a native of Omaha, Nebraska who currently calls the El Cortez home. He is often seen daily on the El Cortez's modest size casino floor which begins at the hotel's front desk and main entrance doors. Many players have been surprised by his unpretensious manner and willingness to talk about "old Las Vegas".
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Son of Michael Gaughan, a successful hotel and casino businessman in Las Vegas, the younger Gaughan spent much of his childhood in and around the casino. When not at his father’s business, Gaughan was watching his dad race trucks in the desert. In fact, Michael Gaughan secured two off-road championships in 1978 and 1979 and continued to race until his retirement in 1991 when Brendan Gaughan climbed behind the wheel of a race car for the first time.
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