Edward May was concieved by his parents Edd May and Rosetta Turner May while they resided in Marshall, Texas. The May family relocated while pregnant with Ed and he was born in Las Vegas, Nevada on Ocober 23, 1955. Ed was the oldest of five children. May attended UNLV, Cornell and Harvard, and is involved with Victory Baptist Church.

Don Laughlin was born and raised on a farm seven miles northeast of Owatonna, Minnesota. In about 1953 he moved to Las Vegas, Nevada. In about 1966, he moved to the area that is now Laughlin, Nevada and purchased what would become the Riverside Resort Hotel and Casino.