Bernard “Bernie” Goldstein, chairman of the board and former chief executive of Isle of Capri Casinos Inc., was inducted this week into the Gaming Hall of Fame.

Touted as the “father of riverboat gaming,” Goldstein lobbied for the original riverboat gaming legislation in Iowa and opened the nation’s first riverboat casino there in 1991.

He also opened the first riverboat casino in the South in Biloxi, Miss. in 1992. The boat was owned and operated by a newly formed public company now known as Isle of Capri Casinos Inc.

He served as chief executive of Isle of Capri until this year.

The other men inducted into the Gaming Hall of Fame this week were legendary boxing promoters Robert Arum and Don King and celebrity chef Emeril Lagasse.

Creve Coeur-based Isle of Capri Casinos (Nasdaq: ISLE) currently owns and operates riverboat, dockside and land-based casinos at 18 locations in Mississippi, Louisiana, Colorado, Iowa, Missouri and overseas.