Laughlin Has a Great Deal for Gorbachev

If he hasn’t stumbled across a better deal in the help wanted ads, outgoing Soviet President Mikhail S. Gorbachev may want to talk to Don Laughlin.

Laughlin, the patriarch of this booming southern Nevada gaming community, says he would pay Gorbachev $1 million a year to serve as a host and public relations executive at his resort on the Colorado River.

“He would bring a lot of business to Laughlin,” Laughlin said Tuesday in a telephone interview from his office at his Riverside Resort.

Laughlin, who founded the booming gambling town that bears his name, said he is serious about the offer. “You don’t joke about $1 million,” he said. “It is a very serious offer. We will put the money up in any bank he chooses.”