{"id":18613,"date":"2016-08-02T13:28:50","date_gmt":"2016-08-02T21:28:50","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.lasvegasadvisor.com\/stiffs-and-georges\/?p=18613"},"modified":"2016-08-02T13:28:50","modified_gmt":"2016-08-02T21:28:50","slug":"nevadas-oldest-casino-turns-85-flynt-doubles-down-on-lucky-lady","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.lasvegasadvisor.com\/stiffs-and-georges\/nevadas-oldest-casino-turns-85-flynt-doubles-down-on-lucky-lady\/","title":{"rendered":"Nevada’s oldest casino turns 85; Flynt doubles down on Lucky Lady"},"content":{"rendered":"

Contrary to the impression of many, yours truly included, the oldest operating casino in Nevada<\/strong> isn’t the Golden Gate<\/strong> but the 85-year-old Railroad Pass<\/strong>, just outside of Boulder \"railroad-pic\"City<\/strong>. It even still has its original vault. New owner Joe DeSimone Jr<\/strong>. is marking its anniversary not with words but deeds, including updating hotel rooms<\/a> so musty-looking that even the Web site seemed coated with dust. (Cathode-ray TV sets in 2015? Really?) The Railroad Pass had suffered from a period of neglect under former owner MGM Resorts International<\/strong>. DeSimone has set out to reverse that trend. He’s also going to augment the already trucker-friendly Railroad Pass with a new truck stop, in anticipation of the opening of the Boulder City Bypass<\/strong>. In an industry in which the small operator is an endangered species, DeSimone’s entrepreneurial spirit is to be lauded.<\/p>\n

* “Macao<\/strong> is obviously short of a family theme park” said Galaxy Entertainment<\/strong> executive Raymond Yap<\/strong>, giving a further preview of the new, family friendly Macao. The theme park would be part of phases three and four of Galaxy Macau<\/strong>, on Cotai<\/strong>. The near-term news was a revamping of Galaxy’s downtown StarWorld Hotel<\/strong> to appeal more to mass-market players. This includes the incorporation of an LT Game<\/strong> electronic table game stadium. The 108-seat arena is divided into eight dealer stations, from which baccarat, sic bo and roulette are dealt (minimum bet $3.22). Fourteen live table games have also been added, along with extra slot inventory. Yap said he was “not aware” of a renegade junket operator running telephonic proxy betting<\/a> out of a Galaxy VIP room, as has been alleged. One hopes, for his sake, that StarWorld isn’t the property in question, should the finger of suspicion point somewhere specific.<\/p>\n

* Top Golf<\/strong>, the spectacular new driving range at MGM Grand<\/strong>, is off to a dodgy start financially, missing payments to employees. As of today, the company has made good on the arrearages but what excuses the horrible puns in this story<\/a>?<\/p>\n

* There’s also a happy ending for employees of Larry Flynt<\/strong>‘s Lucky Lady<\/strong> cardroom, whose owner has green-lit it for continued operation. However, the former Normandie Casino<\/strong>, which hasn’t been remodeled in 26 years, is due for $60 million in upgrades. Already the chips have a new look<\/a>: “a photo of a naked woman crouching suggestively.” (We are<\/em> talking about Larry Flynt, after all.) Said Flynt, with refreshing candor,\u00a0\u201cI don\u2019t want to sound disparaging toward the previous owners on the fact that the place has been neglected for decades, but it has.\u00a0That\u2019s the reason business was terrible. We\u2019re going to have new signage, a $400,000 media program across greater Los Angeles<\/strong> and more.” The previous ownership was too busy laundering money<\/a> to renovate.<\/p>\n

New wallpaper and carpeting are parts of Flynt’s grand scheme, which will start with a re-do of the high-roller area.\u00a0\u201cWe\u2019re going out of our way to give it a different look architecturally and decor-wise. Even the menus will be different,” Flynt said, promising a cardroom of which Gardena<\/strong> could be proud. His investment may not end at the cardroom: A hotel and ancillary retail may figure in his plans.<\/p>\n

Added Flynt of a scrape with the City Council in which he emerged victorious, “in Vegas, casinos have a voice. Think where Gardena would be if they weren\u2019t getting all that money from me? As a result of the investment I\u2019m making, I deserve a tax break. That was the big rub. But we did get our tax break.\u201d<\/p>\n

* First-person-shooter games may soon be showing up on casino floors as skill-based slots. However, Australian politicians are already calling for their online versions to be regulated as gambling<\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Contrary to the impression of many, yours truly included, the oldest operating casino in Nevada isn’t the Golden Gate but the 85-year-old Railroad Pass, just outside of Boulder City. It even still has its original vault. New owner Joe DeSimone … Continue reading →<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[103,88,34,4,201,140,22,62,53,11,8,9],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lasvegasadvisor.com\/stiffs-and-georges\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/18613"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lasvegasadvisor.com\/stiffs-and-georges\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lasvegasadvisor.com\/stiffs-and-georges\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lasvegasadvisor.com\/stiffs-and-georges\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lasvegasadvisor.com\/stiffs-and-georges\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=18613"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.lasvegasadvisor.com\/stiffs-and-georges\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/18613\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":18614,"href":"https:\/\/www.lasvegasadvisor.com\/stiffs-and-georges\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/18613\/revisions\/18614"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lasvegasadvisor.com\/stiffs-and-georges\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=18613"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lasvegasadvisor.com\/stiffs-and-georges\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=18613"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lasvegasadvisor.com\/stiffs-and-georges\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=18613"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}