Nazi Controversy
Engelstad was a controversial figure. He raised accusations of being sympathetic to Nazism owing to his collection of Nazi memorabilia stored in a museum within the casino-hotel, including a painting of himself in a Nazi uniform (captioned "To Adolf from Ralphie"), and a collection of antique cars alleged to have once belonged to German Nazi leaders. On April 20 1988, he hosted a private party for the construction workers at his casino in Las Vegas. Because of this, in 1989, the Nevada Gaming Commission fined Engelstad $1.5 million "for actions that damaged the reputation and image of Nevada's gaming industry." Engelstad apologized publicly but the row was not to be his last controversial move.
Read more about this topic: Ralph Engelstad
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