Bernard "Bernie" Goldstein (February 5, 1929 – July 5, 2009) American attorney ENTREPREUR.He was the founder and chairman of Isle of Capri Casinos and is sometimes called the "father of modern riverboat gambling" because he was the first person to run riverboat casinos in the Midwest and South after they became legal in the 1990s.
The boats initially transported coal upriver and scrap metal down and then expanded into carrying grain.
In 1989, as he approached retirement he began lobbying Iowa to pass riverboat gambling.
His boat the M/V Diamond Lady was the first legal riverboat casino in modern times when it sailed from Bettendorf on April 1, 1991.
[8] The President, a gambling boat owned by John E. Connelly, opened 30 minutes later in Davenport.