Hey Bob!

Many many years ago (like nearly 20), my Dad bought me a hundred shares in Bally's. I got a dividend for $10 or $20 right before I had a trip to Vegas. It was a big joke that whole trip that I was going to bring my dividend check, walk into Bally's, and place it on red on the wheel! Never did it but we had a blast talking about it. I sold the stock not long after that.

When I went to work at Golden Nugget in 1989, Steve Wynn told everyone that if they stayed with him for one year, he would give us each 10 shares of Nugget stock. One year later, I got my certificate. Over the years, it did a 3 to 2 split and then a 2 to 1 split and did a name change so I ended up with 50 shares of Mirage Resorts when he sold to Kirk and we were forced to sell. I think at the time I got my 10 shares it was worth $270 and when I sold it was worth over a $1,000. I paid the $40 fee because I "lost" my three certificates and didn't turn them in when I sold. The nicest thing was the quarterly and annual reports during the "growth" years of Mirage and Treasure Island and Bellagio. I still have them all.

Tyrus