Wikipedia

Railroad Pass Casino

Railroad Pass Hotel & Casino, named after nearby Railroad Pass, is a hotel and casino located in Henderson, Nevada.[3]

Railroad Pass Hotel & Casino
Location Henderson, Nevada, U.S.
Address 1500 Railroad Pass Casino Road
Opening dateAugust 1, 1931; 92 years ago (August 1, 1931)
No. of rooms120[1]
Total gaming space12,803 sq ft (1,189 m2)
OwnerJoseph DeSimone
Previous namesRailroad Pass Club (1931)[2]
Renovated in1986–87
Websiterailroadpass.com

The casino has 12,803 square feet (1,189 m2) of gaming space,[4] with 323 slot machines and six table games,[5] and a William Hill sports and race book.[6]

Location edit

The property is sited in the far southeast corner of the city of Henderson, where it meets the northwestern portion of Boulder City, and is sandwiched between Boulder Highway (US 93/US 95) and the currently (since 1998) orphaned portion of the Boulder City spur on the Union Pacific Railroad's Henderson branch line. The initial phase of the Nevada Department of Transportation's Boulder City Bypass highway project will reconnect those tracks after relocating and upgrading this portion of the Boulder Highway to full freeway status as part of I-11 by 2018, with a new traffic interchange and a dedicated access road maintaining full connectivity to this casino/hotel.[7]

The trailhead for the River Mountains Loop Trail is adjacent to the casino. The original junction of highways 93 and 95 was also once located in front of the property, before the present-day interchange between these two routes was constructed about one mile to the east in Boulder City.

History edit

The casino opened on August 1, 1931.[1] Railroad Pass Club was the third casino licensed in the state of Nevada and holds license number #4 under its latest name.[8] The casino was popular among Boulder Dam construction workers who lived in Boulder City, where alcohol and gambling were prohibited.[9]

Bob Verchota purchased Railroad Pass in 1975,[8] and began a modernization of the property.[9] In 1985, Verchota sold it to Michael Ensign, William Richardson, and David Belding, owners of the nearby Gold Strike Casino.[8][10] Railroad Pass became part of their company, Gold Strike Resorts.[11] A five-story, 120-room hotel began construction in 1986,[12] and was opened on January 8, 1987, making Railroad Pass the first Henderson hotel to have more than 100 rooms. Dining areas and a gift shop were also expanded.[9][13]

Railroad Pass became part of Circus Circus Enterprises (later Mandalay Resort Group), which purchased Gold Strike Resorts in 1995,[14] and then MGM Mirage (later MGM Resorts International), which acquired Mandalay in 2005.[15]

In September 2014, MGM agreed to sell Railroad Pass [16] to Joseph DeSimone, a Henderson-based real estate broker and developer.[17] The sale was completed in April 2015.[18] The casino was operated by Marcus Suan for several months, until DeSimone obtained a gaming license.[19]

Construction on a new hotel tower began in 2021.[20] It would have 127 rooms and be branded as a Holiday Inn Express.[20]

References edit

  1. ^ a b "Railroad Pass Casino". A2Z Las Vegas. Archived from the original on June 23, 2011. Retrieved August 1, 2011.
  2. ^ "News at 6". KLAS-TV. August 1, 2011.
  3. ^ Mark Hall-Patton (July 28, 2011). "Mining claims foundation of Railroad Pass". Boulder City Review. Archived from the original on 2012-03-15. Retrieved July 28, 2011.
  4. ^ Nonrestricted Square Footage Report (Report). Nevada Gaming Control Board. January 11, 2017. p. 8. Retrieved 2017-06-22.
  5. ^ Nonrestricted Count Report (Report). Nevada Gaming Control Board. December 31, 2019.
  6. ^ Location Details - Railroad Pass Casino - Race Book and Sports Pool (Report). Nevada Gaming Control Board. Retrieved 2017-06-22.
  7. ^ "Boulder City Bypass Phase I". NDOT. Archived from the original on August 8, 2013. Retrieved January 27, 2012.
  8. ^ a b c Jane Ann Morrison (July 28, 2011). "Historic Railroad Pass Casino's amenities include ghost, safe and profits". Boulder City Review. Archived from the original on 2012-03-15. Retrieved 2011-07-28.
  9. ^ a b c "Railroad Pass Hotel's grand opening Thursday, Friday". Henderson Home News. January 6, 1987. pp. 1–2. Retrieved October 9, 2018.
  10. ^ David Kelley (September 12, 1985). "Ex-Dunes worker to work at Nugget". Reno Gazette-Journal. UPI.  – via Newspapers.com (subscription required)
  11. ^ Kathryn Jones (March 21, 1995). "Circus Circus agrees to buy Gold Strike, casino owner". New York Times. Retrieved 2017-06-22.
  12. ^ Dickensheets, Scott (May 1, 1986). "Railroad Pass to add hotel". Henderson Home News. pp. 1–2. Retrieved October 9, 2018.
  13. ^ "Everyone Is Invited". Henderson Home News. January 8, 1987. p. 1. Retrieved October 9, 2018.
  14. ^ "Circus Circus-Buy -2-: Ensign Named Vice Chmn, Oper Chief". Dow Jones News Service. June 1, 1995.  – via Factiva (subscription required)
  15. ^ Rod Smith (April 26, 2005). "MGM scales top of heap". Las Vegas Review-Journal.  – via Factiva (subscription required)
  16. ^ Form 10-K: Annual Report (Report). MGM Resorts International. March 2, 2015. p. 76. Retrieved 2015-04-06 – via EDGAR.
  17. ^ Arnold M. Knightly (September 5, 2014). "Developer buying Railroad Pass from MGM". Las Vegas Review-Journal. Retrieved 2014-09-07.
  18. ^ J.D. Morris (April 1, 2015). "MGM Resorts finalizes sale of Railroad Pass". Vegas Inc. Retrieved 2015-04-06.
  19. ^ J.D. Morris (July 23, 2015). "Railroad Pass owner approved to run historic casino". Vegas Inc. Retrieved 2020-01-04.
  20. ^ a b Hali Bernstein Saylor (July 14, 2021). "Railroad Pass breaks ground for 127-room tower". Boulder City Review. Retrieved 2022-03-01.

35°58′21″N 114°54′43″W / 35.9725°N 114.9119°W / 35.9725; -114.9119

External links edit

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