# A Vegas casino just made 10,000 workers owners

> Station Casinos turned 50 and handed nearly 10,000 employees more than $70 million in stock, $1,000 for every year served.
- Title: A Vegas casino just made 10,000 workers owners · Fortune
- Summary: Station Casinos turned 50 and handed nearly 10,000 employees more than $70 million in stock, $1,000 for every year served. Loyalty still pays at some…
- Keywords: employee ownership, las vegas, equity, station casinos, workplace, Vegas, casino, just, made, 000, workers, owners
- Source: Fortune — https://fortune.com/2026/09/14/las-vegas-casino-10000-workers-70-million-company-stock-red-rock-resort-spa-fertitta
- Author: Catherina Gioino
- Read time: 1 min
- Topics: employee ownership, las vegas, equity, station casinos, workplace
## The pension is gone, mostly
Put in your years, get a pension and a gold watch. That deal has quietly disappeared at most companies, but a few employers still pay for loyalty in a bigger way.
## $70 million, one Wednesday
To mark its 50th birthday, Station Casinos surprised nearly 10,000 full- and part-time workers with stock worth more than $70 million. The formula: $1,000 in Class A shares per year of service.
## Walk out as an owner
Vice Chairman Lorenzo Fertitta told a ballroom of employees the point was to change how they saw themselves at work, not just top up their pay.

> this is now your company too
## Decades of service, cashed in
Ida Johnson, who started in 1977, got $49,000 in stock. Six others who began at Bingo Palace in the 1970s and still work there each received more than $45,000 in equity.
## From 100 slot machines
Frank Fertitta Jr. left Galveston for Las Vegas in 1959 and opened a 5,000-square-foot casino in 1976 with 90 employees. It became Palace Station in 1984; the company now runs 14 properties.

> our dad knew it was the team members and the relationships with our guests that was the most important part
## Not the only one
Bank of America gave nearly its whole workforce a $1 billion restricted-stock pool, Apple handed out $2,500 bonuses, and Fibrebond's owners carved out $240 million for staff when the company sold.
## Key takeaway

Loyalty still pays at some companies, and paying it in equity turns workers into owners rather than recipients of a one-time bonus.