Casino Wars

The Casino Wars, also known as the Big Four conflict and the Las Vegas corporate turf wars, were a series of confrontations between the Big Four megacorporations of the Las Vegas Metroplex. Starting in 2017, the conflict was initially considered a cold skirmish before escalating in the summer of 2018 into an all-out armed conflict for control of Vegas's gambling & entertainment industries.

The Casino Wars reached their final conclusion in August 2019 following intervention and mediation from Militech International. Santeau Group was considered the war's winner, having secured its hold in the Metroplex, but the dissolution of the Big Four left the region vulnerable to Militech's own rising authority in Nevada.

Background
In the early years of the American Collapse, the last true mega-corporations remaining in Nevada's Clark County were Las Vegas Entertainment, Hanlon Resorts, Delta Properties, and the Santeau Group. Capitalizing on the power vacuum created by the failure of other enterprises, they formed a business alliance and became the predominant power brokers of the Las Vegas Metroplex, known colloquially as the "Big Four." Having sustained the city with investments and job opportunities during the worst of the Collapse, it was a relatively easy matter for them to retain public support and influence in a post-depression economy, yet the outward appearance of an amicable partnership belied the fragile nature of the alliance which held together only out of necessity.

As the economy slowly but surely began to recover, however, the Big Four became increasingly disharmonious as profit and competing interests superseded cooperation and forced them into progressively more contentious disputes. Tensions came to a head in 2013, when media conglomerate DMS sought a partnership for a multi-billion eurodollar joint venture in the city's casino district. After months of stalled negotiations, Santeau—now viewing Vegas Entertainment, Hanlon and Delta as obstacles rather than allies—ultimately undercut its business partners to make a backroom deal with DMS. Predictably, the subverted parties were incensed at being left out and independently plotted their revenge.