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.

"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.

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.

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.

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.

"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. 

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

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

"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."