When It Comes to Philanthropy, Gaming Mogul Has a Gift

It was over pie and coffee at a Las Vegas eatery about a decade ago that gaming industry manufacturer Stanley Fulton played one of his trademark practical jokes on E. LeRoy Lawson.

President of a little-known Christian university in Fullerton, Lawson was in Sin City to address the businessman’s congregation, and he recounted his experience trying to convert legendary Los Angeles gangster Mickey Cohen--and Cohen’s reluctance to give up his tawdry lifestyle.

Fulton, a multimillionaire slot machine mogul, recalled Tuesday that he knew this was an opportunity he couldn’t pass up: “I’m a kidder, so I said, ‘Roy, there’s something I have to tell you. Mickey Cohen was my uncle.’ . . . I thought Roy was gonna choke on that pie.”

While it seems like an unlikely match--one man made his name on gambling ventures, the other as leader of a Christian university--the friendship that was struck that night led to last week’s announcement that Fulton donated $5.25 million in cash to construct a student center and 2,000-seat sports arena at Hope International University.

The donation equals just about half of Hope’s $12-million annual budget, and is believed to be one of the largest, single cash donations made by an individual to a private college in Orange County history.

The recently retired businessman said his reason for choosing to be Hope’s benefactor was simple.

“They are good people running that place,” Fulton said. “Their goals are noble.”

Lawson said he never dreamed that refreshments after an address to Central Christian Church in Las Vegas would lead to a lifelong friendship and such a generous donation.

“We just became friends and stayed in touch over these years,” he said. “I don’t know how we can thank him.”

Originally known as Pacific Bible Seminary, the school was founded 72 years ago in Long Beach. In 1962 it changed its name to Pacific Christian College and 10 years later relocated to land it purchased on Nutwood Avenue across from Cal State Fullerton.

Affiliated with the nondenominational Church of Christ, the school changed its name again in 1997 to better reflect its international humanitarian and missionary efforts, spokesman Erik Stauber said. Many of its 1,000 students study ministry, but don’t necessarily become ministers, he said. Instead, they make pilgrimages around the world a way of life.

The last year has seen much larger donations to local universities. Broadcom co-founder Henry Samueli and his wife, Susan, gave $20 million to UC Irvine and $30 million to UCLA, for instance.

Nonetheless, supporters say Fulton’s gift came none too soon.

A portion of the donation will be dedicated for scholarships and endowments, but the bulk of the funds will go to build a student center. The crown jewel will be a much-needed arena, which Stauber said will help the school practice its belief that sports offers another way to practice their faith.

Hope International’s nine sports teams, which compete in the National Assn. of Intercollegiate Athletics, have long taken a back seat to the county’s five other four-year colleges that field sports teams.

“Our sports teams have just been hanging on,” Lawson said. “Our students here compete against all kinds of odds that we have created for them by not having a place for them to play. This is going to be a fantastic thing.”

Athletically, the school has long been known as “Hopeless U” because it lacks scholarship funds to attract top athletes and resorts to renting space for practices and games from local churches, high schools, community centers or at nearby Cal State Fullerton, often with disastrous results.

“They’d schedule a game in advance at the Brea Community Center for a Tuesday night game and Monday afternoon they’d call and say that the facility wasn’t available and that they were scrambling to find a place to play,” said Athletic Director Bob Wilson of Vanguard University in Costa Mesa.

Two years ago, Hope was voted into the 10-team Golden State Athletic Conference to the chagrin of many of the league’s more competitive members. As part of the vote, Wilson said, “it was strongly suggested to them that, in a reasonable amount of time, they should have their own facility to play in.”

Fulton, whose passion for giving has long been known in Las Vegas, may have paved the way for Hope International to get on the athletic map.

A self-made, deeply religious man, the 70-year-old Fulton was listed in 1997 as No. 51 on the list of the 59 most compensated chief executives in the gaming industry.

He started Anchor Gaming in 1989 with a contract to place slot machines in small roadside markets along Nevada’s barren highways and he hit pay dirt when a high-volume Utah-based chain of food stores expanded around the Silver State and cut a deal with Fulton to put slot machines at every location.

Anchor quickly expanded into several gaming enterprises, including a series of casinos in Colorado and a planned development in San Diego County.

Last month, Fulton, son Michael and daughter Elizabeth Jones agreed to step down from the company’s board of directors in a friendly stock buyout valued at about $340 million. The elder Fulton retains an office and will serve as a consultant to the firm, while retaining ownership of the Sunland Park Race Track and Casino in New Mexico and a 25% share of another track in Massachusetts.

“I thought it would be fun to sit in the director’s box and watch the ponies,” he said. “Maybe once in a while I’ll go downstairs and hand out a trophy.”

From time to time since meeting Lawson, Fulton has given much smaller amounts to Hope International, including $330,000 to purchase a building near the campus several years ago.

That pales in comparison to the $10 million in all that Fulton says he has given to the University of Nevada Las Vegas.

“He’s very charitable,” said Jeff Sage, corporate financial officer of Anchor Gaming in Las Vegas.

“He’s contributed money to a number of universities and to the Central Christian Church and to the local public broadcasting outlet here,” Sage said. “He’s kind of an industry icon who is viewed very respectfully here.”

Fulton explained that giving money is a spiritual experience.

“It’s real simple,” he said. “I support my church. The man up there, I owe him.”

The Hope International board of directors was so taken with Fulton’s generosity that it voted late last week to name the new arena after him. Lawson said he will go to Las Vegas in the near future to persuade Fulton to lend his name to the project.

But that won’t be easy.

Lawson points out that Fulton wouldn’t go along with a similar proposal when he helped buy the building some years back.

“I wanted to name the building after him, but he refused,” Lawson said. “I think he has bought into the mission of this place and he just wants to move from being a success in life to making a significant difference in life.”