Casino resorts in Nevada location, once packed, become ghost town as closure nears

A Nevada location once thrived with multiple casinos, hotels, restaurants and plenty of outlet shopping.

Today, the town of Primm will have its last casino hotel close on July 4 - putting 344 people out of work, according to Fox 5 Las Vegas as well as other outlets.

"In Nevada, we have a lot of old mining towns where, when the boom ended, or they had used up whatever precious metal they were looking for, everybody cleared out," Michael Green, associate professor of history at the University of Nevada, Las Vegas (UNLV), told Fox News Digital.

"Primm, I think, could end up being the first gambling ghost town," he said.

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Located on the California-Nevada border, Primm is a 38-mile drive south from the Las Vegas Strip.

Since the 1970s, travelers driving to and from Vegas or seeking a less-expensive Sin City-style experience made Primm a booming place, SFGate reported.

In December 2024, however, the first of the three casinos in the Primm Valley Casino Resorts complex closed. 

The shuttering of Whiskey Pete's was followed by Buffalo Bill's Resort & Casino limiting its operations to special events in July 2025.

When it shuts down this summer, the Primm Valley Casino Resorts will terminate access to the 624 hotel rooms and suites, 46,000 square feet of entertainment and more than 300 slot machines it advertises, according to Fox 5.

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Primm Valley Casino Resorts' parent company, Affinity Gaming, informed staff earlier this month of their termination and told them to vacate company housing by July 6, according to an 8NewsNow.com report.

The company informed employees it would cease charging them rent on May 15 and offered to help coordinate government assistance, according to a letter issued to tenants and published by 8NewsNow.

In addition to the three casinos, the Primm Center gas station and Flying J truck stop will also close, though the Primm family is reportedly working to keep the gas stations along the heavily traveled route open, Fox 5 said.

"Primm has seen a slow decline of the past 15 to 20 years, largely because of development in California and partly because of development in Las Vegas," Amanda Belarmino, associate professor of hospitality at UNLV, told Fox News Digital.

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"The success of Native American casinos in Southern California led to a decline in visitation to the Primm casinos," Belarmino added.

"A lot of people used to stop there just because they were so excited to … gamble once they got over the border. But since casinos are more readily accessible, Primm lost some of that appeal," she said. 

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That's one reason Las Vegas started emphasizing the tourist experience as opposed to "just gambling," Green said. 

Primm did offer buffets, a roller coaster, concerts, a golf course and an exhibit dedicated to Bonnie and Clyde's "death car," but "three hotels in that area were a bit too much," Green said.

Business dropped substantially during COVID and never really recovered, Green added.

In spite of online betting, casino gaming is not disappearing, said David G. Schwartz, UNLV professor and gaming historian.

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"Gambling is going to continue to parallel retail," Schwartz said. "People would buy paper towels online, but they might not buy a Lamborghini online."

"When it comes to buying lottery tickets, it is probably more convenient to do that on your phone," Schwartz said.

If people want to play a $20,000-hand of baccarat, they will likely want to do that in person, he said.

Schwartz believes vacation resort destinations centered around gambling will shift toward other amenities.

"If you look at Las Vegas over the past 10 years, what have the big developments been?" Schwartz said.

"It's not necessarily been the casinos that have opened. It's been things like T-Mobile Arena, Allegiant Stadium, the Sphere. Non-gaming has really been the big news."