PRIMM — Gaming fans hoping to celebrate the Independence Day weekend with a visit to the border town’s last surviving casino were disappointed Friday to find it closed.
Gas stations and a popular Lotto store were open for business Friday following a change in operators that kept the cluster of roadside businesses alive, but dozens of visitors hoping to visit the Primm Valley Casino left puzzled and frustrated after finding the casino closed.
The “property is closed for patronage,” read a sign outside the casino’s main entrance. A reopening date hasn’t been set.
Terrible’s, which owns dozens of convenience stores in the Las Vegas Valley and casinos in other parts of Nevada, took over operations in Primm on Wednesday, just in time for the Fourth of July weekend. The previous operator, Affinity Gaming, announced on May 5 that it would permanently close its Primm operations on July 4 after it could not find anyone to take over.
Primm has been a “significant cash drain and management distraction of Affinity for many years,” Affinity spokesperson Melissa Krantz said in a May statement to the Las Vegas Review-Journal.
In a phone interview Friday, Terrible’s spokesperson Lisa Robinson said she did not know when the casino will reopen. She said Terrible’s is currently working with regulators, and that it will reopen as soon as possible.
George McCabe, a spokesperson for the Primm family — which owns the casino property and is leasing it to Terrible’s — said he’s not surprised that the casino has not yet reopened.
“Everything is going to plan as far as I know,” McCabe said.
Contact Lucas Hellberg at lhellberg@reviewjournal.com.
