Two downtown’s casino, the Las Vegas Club and the Mermaids will once again open their doors for business, allowing those in search of nostalgia to relive old moments. This opportunity, however, will be very limited, making it all the more precious. Both casinos will operate for a combined total of 16 hours between them, with the Las Vegas Club taking the first 8 hours shift on June. 27, followed by the Mermaids on the following day.
Owners of the D Las Vegas and Golden Gate properties on Fremont Street, brothers Derek and Greg Stevens, purchased the Las Vegas Club in 2015, and the Mermaid in the following year. Both were closed shortly after being acquired by the brothers.
The temporary reopening is for the sole purpose of preserving the casino’s gaming license, which according to. Nevada Gaming Control Board, eight-hours worth of active play must occur onsite every two years, otherwise the permit expires and is revoked.
For this reason, the Stevens brothers made arrangements with slot-route operator United Coin Machine to set up sixteen slot machines, for eight hours each, first at the Las Vegas Club, then more the operation to Mermaids the very next day.
For United Coin, owned by Montana-based Century Gaming Technologies, this is just another typical job that the company routinely carries out for gambling establishment owners in order to retain their gaming license.
Along with the two casinos, the Stevenses also acquired the La Bayou, as well as the Topless Girls of Glitter Gulch adult entertainment club, both of which were purchased in April 2016 and closed two months later.
“When we purchased the Las Vegas Club in August (2015), we knew then we wanted to look at a larger footprint,” Said Derek Stevens. “Now that we’ve done this transaction, it completely changes the scope of what the project could become. I’m going to need a little time with my team to start thinking through what this project will look like.”
The acquisition of the two buildings housing the four casinos provides the brothers with an even larger footprint on Fremont Street, allowing endless possibilities when it comes to the proposed new casino, for which the brothers have yet to disclose any specifics.
“This is where we have to go to work, so it would be premature for me to comment on one way or the other,” Stevens said. “Right now, we’re going to be doing some strategic thinking, and some creative thinking, and kind of go from there. But, obviously, the thought process is, with this substantially different footprint, it really lends itself to some substantial new construction.”
Together with the sites for the new casino, the Stevens brothers also took the winning bid for Clark County’s Bridger Building on March 15, for which they stated will probably be used for warehousing and office space for their downtown operations.
Although nothing in regards to the new casino has been made public, Derek Stevens did reveal that the iconic cowgirl Vegas Vickie sign will be coming down on June 12, breaking up the ultimate neon-power-couple of Fremont Street.
Vegas Vickie, formerly Sassy Sally, changed name to reflect her “marriage” to neighbouring neon cowboy Vegas Vic in 1994.
Without knowing for certain what the future holds for Vickie, Stevens did say that there is probability that she’ll be relocated to the Neon Museum, located just a few blocks north of Fremont Street.
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