Lee has been one of the only Asian casino owners in the United States and currently is the only one in Mesquite, Nevada. Lee follows in the footsteps of his grandfather Joe Shoong who made a name for himself in the business world.
Before the family entered into the gambling business, Shoong moved from China to America and became one of the first Chinese American millionaires. He has been featured on the cover of Time magazine and now even has a park named after him to honor his successes. HE came to the country in 1901 and opened a National Dollar store that eventually became a chain.
Lee began his career starting out studying law. “It was what I thought that I’d want to do — live in New York City and work for a firm where you wore nice clothes and shiny shoes,” Lee said. However after a year Lee left the law side and in 1995 moved to the gambling casino capital of the United States, Las Vegas.
Lee’s parents took over a small casino when they moved and had set their sites on a nicer casino to be opened in Mesquite. The land chosen in Mesquite was right off of interstate 15 a prime location for tourists to see. The land was then priced at $20 million in the 80’s.
The family worked hard and combined all their resources and built the Eureka casino. The first casino was built in 1997 in Mesquite by the Lees was the Rancho Mesquite. It held 500 slots, one restaurant, and two bars. Next door to the casino was a hotel that they also owned the held 215 rooms.
“We built a locals casino with no locals,” said Lee. “It was a rough go.”
Soon the casino was attracting retirees who were on their way in from Utah with a short night stay at the hotel. And the rest is history.
