Many people know that one of my areas of interest is Las Vegas, specifically the coming and goings of casinos, especially old ones. Well, according to the Las Vegas Review Journal, a new casino opened up yesterday… and closed yesterday.
Let me explain. Under Nevada and Las Vegas law, in order to keep an unrestricted gaming license, a minimum amount gaming must occur on a property for some minimum amount of time every 24 months. In this case, it is at least one shift of gaming, with at least 16 slot machines. It is of special concern is Las Vegas, because new gaming licenses are (a) harder to get, and (b) come with restrictions, especially in residential neighborhoods, regarding casino size and other services that must be offered.
And thus, yesterday, we had the brief lifetime of “Trailer Station”, opened without fanfare by Station Casinos in the parking lot of the former Showboat casino, nee Castaways, that Station acquired in 2004. The casino had been closed since January 2004, and the Castaway’s 445-room hotel tower was imploded around the first of 2006. In January 2006, Station Casinos set up its first temporary casino to maintain the right to build a casino on the site without having to build also a hotel tower with at least 200 rooms.
It is now 24 months later, and “Trailer Station” was reopened, with 16 slots, operations run by United Coin Machine Co., with an ADA trailer and compliant portable toilet. This short operation gives Station another two years to decide what they want to do with the property, although I do expect we’ll see a “Trailer Station” again in 2010.
What I found more interesting, however, was the statement that United Coins runs other similar operations, in particular the Moulin Rouge on Bonanza Road and the Holy Cow on Sahara Avenue and the Strip. Both sites have storied histories: the Moulin Rouge was the first integrated casino, but was only really open for less than a year in the early 1960s or late 1950s. There are periodic articles about plans to redevelop the site, but nothing has been successful. Holy Cow is on Sahara just N of the Sahara Hotel (where Foxys used to be, for those that go back that far). I find it interesting that Holy Cow is also preserving an unrestricted license, for it may mean another major development just within the LV City Limits (remember that most of the strip is (intentionally) just outside the LV City Limits.
P.S. It’s National Delurking Week. Would it kill ‘ya to come out from where you are hiding and comment on this post?
