That legacy is more a result of his stewardship of Skyline Enterprises; his ability to mix southern conservatism, persistence and vision to create a leader in the tourism industry.
The Queenstown businessman last year ended 33 years' service on the board of Skyline Enterprises, a well-managed company that came to act as a barometer of the state of the tourism industry.
Successful investments made under Mr Thomas' watch far outweigh the failures, and those successes became flagship ventures.
"It doesn't matter who is involved in running them; they're winners, they really are."
The casino investment was a test of Mr Thomas' mettle, a long, tortuous and expensive process with no certainty of success in gaining a licence.
During his business career Mr Thomas not only became a leader in the tourism industry, but his leadership skills were also recognised by appointment to the boards of unrelated sectors, the New Zealand Rugby Union and fledgling Southland meat company Blue Sky Meats.
He also established a community newspaper in Queenstown, which he still chairs.
He says he was a slow starter, having been neither a great school pupil nor the world's greatest accountant, but attributes his successful business career to learning from those around him; people like Jim Valentine and Reid Jackson. But it was the Baker brothers, who ran W. Gregg and Company, who provided him with an initiation into business.
Mr Thomas describes the brothers, Charles, Lewis, Wilson and Don, as tough, disciplined and prepared to back themselves and take on larger, established players for a share of the market for their coffee and spices.
On graduating from the University of Otago with a bachelor of commerce in 1966, he started working for the Bakers. University of Otago classmate and fellow business leader Sir Eion Edgar said Mr Thomas was a tough negotiator, something he believed was learnt from Charlie Baker.
The Bakers sent Mr Thomas to the Cook Islands for two years to look after their business interests there, but on returning to Dunedin, he went searching for a new challenge, and in 1969 moved to Queenstown to start a chartered accountancy business with the help of Broad Christie, an Invercargill firm.
His move coincided with Skyline Enterprises' search for a financial controller-business manager. Rather than take on the full responsibility, Mr Thomas took the company on as a client - one of three he had on his books when he started business.
Skyline Enterprises, which grew out of Skyline Tours, was created to establish a gondola up to Bobs Peak to enjoy the view and dine at the Chalet.
Skyline Enterprises was a private company with backing of 50,000 raised from local investors under the helm of visionary founding chairman Hylton Hensman.
Mr Thomas recalled there was debate in Queenstown at the time about which would draw more tourists: the gondola or an ice-skating rink.
Mr Hensman was to be influential in Mr Thomas' career, getting him on to Skyline's board in 1975 and, upon resigning in 1976, ensuring Mr Thomas became chairman.
"I think he liked that I got on and did things."
The position provided the chance to grasp opportunities.
One of those was Blue Peaks Lodge, which had run into financial difficulties before construction was completed.
Skyline stepped in, put a deal on the table to buy it and completed construction.
But several years later, he was also to learn a valuable lesson.
Skyline had bought land in Rotorua for a gondola, but Mr Thomas had seen a luge-type facility on a tourism promotion visit to the United States and thought that might work better.
The land was next to Rainbow Springs and the plan was to make the luge track an extra attraction.
It didn't work.
For four years after its opening in 1985 it struggled, and they borrowed money from offshore to bankroll the venture.
With the exchange rate working against them, Mr Thomas decided to cover the $3.5 million loan for three weeks, during which the New Zealand dollar was devalued 20% and they ended up making $850,000.
Mr Thomas said Rotorua was a school of hard knocks for Skyline, from which it developed a workable, profitable model it applied to luge runs in Queenstown, Singapore and Canada.
His perseverance was tested again when he was invited to apply for a casino licence in the late 1980s-early 1990s.
Eventually, he led the applicant group, but it was to take 15 months of his time and cost $3.5 million to get the licence without any certainty of success, at a time when public money was short.
The key was to involve the right people - the best architects, engineers, accountants and lawyers - something that proved invaluable during the resource consent hearing, he said.
In 2004, Mr Thomas became embroiled in an uncharacteristic public spat with Sky City, which took a 40.5% stake in Christchurch Casino after buying United Kingdom gaming company Aspinall group for $94 million.
Mr Thomas believed it was inappropriate for Sky City to have a stake in five of the country's six casinos, and that the publicly listed company did not fit the character of the Christchurch business.
It was a battle he did not win, but one he felt passionate about.
He describes himself as an ordinary businessman who was fortunate to have a mother who pushed him and a father, an Invercargill real-estate agent with his own licence, who after initial reservations conceded to back his university education.
But he said his career was helped by following basic business principles. The first was to ensure projects were adequately capitalised even if that meant going back to shareholders if borrowing levels were too great.
Maintaining a strong balance sheet was crucial to ensuring shareholders were adequately rewarded.
"Sometimes we are generous, but we are never overly generous and we maintained that jealously."
While not risk-averse, Mr Thomas said Skyline was careful to analyse an investment closely before committing funds.
One such investment was in 2004, when it spent $60 million on eight prime central Queenstown properties.
Mr Thomas said it had plenty of cash at the time and the opportunity to buy them.
Skyline has had few failures, but one of Mr Thomas' biggest regrets was the Caples Valley gondola, a 12km trip that would have dramatically shortened the trip from Queenstown to Milford Sound.
He was convinced the $100 million venture, which had the backing of Ngai Tahu, was economically and environmentally sound.
Its failure to get traction was a huge disappointment, he said.
"It didn't proceed because we couldn't get any encouragement or assistance from conservationists."
Retirement will allow Mr Thomas and wife Sharon to spend more time travelling, pursue their love of rugby and follow a couple of race horses they own.
Mr Thomas is optimistic about Queenstown's future, saying development would take the "odd breather"as was happening at present, but it will pick up again.
"It's such a magical destination and with Milford Sound and areas around Wanaka and the various walks, it will attract more and more overseas visitors."
Skyline Enterprises will continue to be part of that.
