Primm, Nevada’s once-thriving gambling community, was scheduled to go out with a bang on July 4th, with the last of its three casinos shutting down on Independence Day. While the closing of retail options often pushes bettors to search online for the best sportsbooks for U.S. players, there may still be a future for the physical properties. A Las Vegas-based convenience store and travel center operator, LV Petroleum, has expressed interest in taking over several of the businesses, including one of the hotel/casinos.
LV Petroleum Fueling a Comeback?
Affinity Gaming, which operates Primm Valley Casino Resorts and Primm Center, consisting of several food and sundries outlets, as well as the Flying J truck stop, announced it would cease operations on July 4th of this year. The human toll was expected to leave 344 employees on the unemployment line, with approximately three-quarters forced to vacate company housing.
Yet, a glimmer of hope arrived in the form of LV Petroleum, which operates 76 TA travel centers throughout the nation and wrote a letter of interest in keeping many of the facilities open, including the Flying J truck stop and even reopening Whiskey Pete’s Hotel and Casino, which has been closed since December 2024.
LV Petroleum CEO Kristopher Roach has been vocal regarding Primm’s prospects for a revival under his command. He believes Primm’s resources would be an ideal fit for what his company does, offering a unique opportunity to reverse the trend of Primm, Nevada shifting from a boomtown to a ghost town. If the deal is consummated, it would be its fourth TA travel center in Nevada.
“We don’t want it to go dark. We don’t want to lose the employees,” Roach said. “We have a huge interest in the market. We’ve had a couple of meetings.”
“We’re a Las Vegas-born and based company, and we’ll have over 6,000 employees,” Roach added. “We want to assume operations as quickly as possible. It’s an important location.”
As for the company’s plans to reopen Whiskey Pete’s Hotel and Casino, many wondered how a company that operates travel centers and truck stops could successfully turn around a casino that has been dormant for 17 months.
“We have gaming partners that can help.” Roach was referring to restaurants and convenience stores tied to TA Travel Centers, along with other establishments, that operate slot machine routes.
“We believe we’re a perfect fit,” Roach said.
End of an Era
Primm, Nevada, is a quick stop away from the Southern California border and 45 minutes south of Las Vegas. In 1977, Whiskey Pete’s became the first hotel and casino to open in what was a dusty strip of road in the middle of the desert.
Southern Californians seeking a shorter trip to a more affordable gambling venue than those in Sin City soon made Primm, Nevada, a popular destination, while truckers traveling through often stopped for the night to break up their monotonous routes.
Business was booming, and two more hotel/casinos followed, with Primm Valley Casino Resorts opening in 1990, followed by Buffalo Bill’s in 1994. Everything was going smoothly until Californians passed Proposition 1-A in 2000, which allowed tribal casinos to operate slot machines and lifted restrictions on card games.
As tribal casinos began popping up in California, much of that foot traffic stayed in the Golden State, and slowly but surely, Primm’s gambling business was ultimately cannibalized by its Southern California neighbors.
David G. Schwartz, a gaming historian and professor at the University of Nevada, Las Vegas, illustrated the rise and fall of Primm as follows: “Many of those people Primm was drawing from began to stay in Southern California, where the drives are just much shorter and the amenities much closer.”
