An executive with Affinity Gaming, the company that plans to permanently close three casinos and other amenities on land it leases on the California-Nevada border at Primm, told regulators Thursday that a special committee has been formed to help find a successor to take over the properties.
Affinity CEO Scott Butera and company attorneys say they have been working since the May 5 closing announcement to find an alternative to the planned July 4 property closing that could put more than 300 people out of work.
“All I can tell you is that from my perspective, my team has worked tirelessly to provide extensive information to the Primm family, hopefully to support that cause,” Butera told board members.
The Primm family owns the land where Affinity has operated three hotel-casino properties — Whiskey Pete’s, Buffalo Bill’s and Primm Valley Resort — and at the Primm Center gas station and Flying J trucker refueling stop.
“We’ve invested a lot of money in that asset over the years, to no avail,” Butera told Gaming Control Board Chairman Mike Dreitzer during a special meeting on an unrelated licensing matter.
“We tried a lot of things there, including building a new sign and new slot machines. The long and short of it is that it’s just not viable as a casino operation and as such we informed the landlord that we can no longer operate.”
The company also tried a partial closure — the hotels and casinos would be open temporarily for special concerts and events at the Star of the Desert arena at Buffalo Bill’s, which is also home to a roller coaster that was once the tallest in the world.
It explained that the special committee “is charged with reviewing, evaluating, negotiating, proposing, approving and or entering into strategic alternatives with respect to Affinity and its subsidiaries, with respect to potential transactions, including sales, financings, restructurings, reorganizations, recapitalizations, bankruptcy, insolvency, and or other transactions, valuations, approving and or entering into settlement terms in connection with potential claims or causes of action.”
Regulators said they are seriously concerned about the Primm shutdown, because it serves as a gateway to southern Nevada from one of its biggest markets, southern California.
While Primm’s fortunes have gradually worsened, as recently as last year some optimism was expressed for long-term success if the proposed Ivanpah Valley Complementary Airport is built just north of Primm along Interstate 15.
But construction work on that project likely won’t happen for at least a decade.
The Primm family has made a public plea in an open letter published by the Review-Journal to help the workers and their families. Clark County Social Services is committed to providing resources to people who live and work in Primm.
Primm was once a lucrative frontier destination. The trio of hotel-casinos once sold for a combined $400 million, and the sprawling outlet mall in Primm was reportedly among the top 10 outlet malls nationally by sales.
But currently there seems to be no solutions.
“From management’s perspective, the things that I have control over, I know we’ve done everything possible,” Butera said. “And I think our special committee is working as hard as they can. Again, it’s in our best interest that this be transferred successfully.
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