Adapting to Shifting Gambling Trends

Let's consider this, where every day we go deep on one big news story. Today, we look at the future of the little casino toown Primm, Nevada right on the California border. It's named after the casino developer, Ernie Primm. and his grandson, Corey Clemmentson, remembers that back in the nineteen nineties, the town was popping. The hotels were packed It was filled. peopleeople were obviously having a great time, you know drinking, gambling What I remember is you had kind of a carnival type of atmosphere here. Today, Prim is nearly empty and two of its three hotels are shuttered, but Clemmentson and the rest of the Prim family are hoping to resurrect this town. You know, the magic can come back. It might not be exactly like it was thirty years ago, but could it be great in different forms? Absolutely Trim willll be back to some better days hopefully sooner rather than later Consider of this, the town of Prem Nevada has seen its fortune fade as casinos have proliferated across America. So can the family that owns Prem turn the town's luck around From NPR, I'm Wanna Summers M Let's consider us from NPR Prim Nevada is just a blip on Interstate fifteen about forty minutes outside of Las Vegas thirty years ago, it was a thriving tourist stop. It's nearly a ghost town So how has Las Vegas managed to adapt to shifting gambling trends? while casino towns like Prem have not And what will it take to bring Prm back to life My co host, Elsa Chang traveled to Nevada to learn more. When the Desperado rooller coaster first opened up in nineteen ninety four, right here on the Nevada state line, it was one of the tallest and fastest in the world Corey Cleenson was among the first to ride it. Front car. You were in the front car? Front car. Are you a screamer No, but I screamed on that r. went and kept my eyes shut. Out of genuine terror. Yeah. It was a great moment. The roller coaster was the latest attraction in a little casino town called Primm, which was named after Clementson's grandfather, Ernie Primm The Primm family still owns all the land this town is built on. Prim would be the first place you would spot across the Nevada border cruising from LA to Vegas. The first place you could gamble.otel cas, four two hundred slots and restaurants. It's a must stop. Back in the nineteen nineties, TV spots like this advertised thousands of cheap rooms. And visitors would flood into Prim, not just for the gambling and the roller coaster, but also for the rodeos, boxing matches, performances by stars like Aretha Franklin and one of the top outlet malls in the country Those massive crowds feel like a distant memory now What this place look like in front of us this parking lot. acked cars W wouldould it be hard to find a parking space? It would be on the weekends, it'd be nearly impossible. There was great anticipation with what Prim was doing and where, you know, Prim is kind of on top, right? I mean it really Be the investment in a roller coaster is a big investment. Was there a feeling of like This is going to get bigger and better I think for anybody who was here, it was never going to end And what does it feel like right now in this moment, Cory to look at this inert Roller coaster. fated, It's rusting Baking heartbreaking Today, the loudest sounds in prim are the trucks speeding by on the highway and the lone crows looming over empty parking lots. T two of the three hotel casinos here have closed. That's whiskey Pats and buuffalo bills. Then a couple months ago, the company that operates these properties, Affinity Interactive, announced that it would be closing the third and final hotel, laying off hundreds of staff. And that is when Clemmentson and the rest of the Prim family decided to step in teeaming up with a Nevada convenience store company called Terriibles to try to resurrect this ghost town If you can turn a ghost town into greatness again, there's not anything you can't do. And so why not go for the challenge? Why not us? But how do you bring back the people to prrim? So there used to be a monorail that went going across The freeway from whiskey Pats over here maybe That's a mod a people mover here to get people from one side or the other. That is David Schwartz, a gaming historian at the University of Nevada, Las Vegas. And that people mover is now abandoned gathering cobwebs and bird poop But Schwart says that train is a reminder of Prim's potential That was a time of big dreams And when Vegas itself was thriving so much and just expanding and exploding, why not because it seemed like this would last forever So Tell me why a town that used to be thriving like F wasise turn into A ghost town So if we go back to nineteen seventy five Pretty much the only place you can gamble legally in a casino is in Nevada. Okay Fast forward nineteen seventy six casino gambling legalized for Atlantic City, New Jersey. In nineteen eighties, you have the proliferation of tribal casinos And you also have the beginnings of riverboat casinos in the Midwest. fast forward to the nineties. now you have casinos at race tracks. to thousands more land based casinos in cities all around the country Then what happened is you have the proliferation of tribal casinos in southern California. Okay. And what did tribal casinos offer that say maybe a town like Primm did not? Well, convenience, a lot more convenience. Instead of having to drive all the way to Primm, you could just drive much shorter distance right up the road. It's really hard to say, hey, we're going to invest millions of dollars here based on Vibes, yeah. basased on what vibes? Yeah based on well, hopes Hopes for the future, optimism. faith in our ability to reinvent ourselves You know't Yeah Wow, now that's a sign from the heavens. This's got some thunder. Yes, because rain in the desert is a promise of new beginning. And rain in the desert is a good thing I feel like the places that can do more to reinvent themselves to offer different things just like Vegas did are going to do a lot better It're to Vegas baby. Expensive casinos. We're here for a convention. Wiz sur vise, it was great. Oh thephere. Yep. Good food. Really good food in Vegas. Oh, Megamark. You've got quite a lot of cards here with a broad selection of women. I'm married, I don't. So I will throw them into the closest trash canan that I can find. We were ATV ran, we had dinner at the top of the world And were going to bed. You're going to bed, It's only seven PM. We've been up since Saturday. It's Tuesday When you stand on the strip in Vegas, just forty miles from Prim, you are in a totally different universe. The tourism numbers in Vegas are almost as high as they have ever been before. I asked David Schwartz, who also met us here, why does Vegas continue to thrive, even as casinos have been popping up all over the country What Vegas did differently was they invested a lot of money in buildings things like the Venetian, like Mirage, like Sphhere, sports teams coming here now, Legion Stadium, Team Oobile Arena. All that stuff gives people a reason to come to Vegas instead of going to a casino closer to where they live. Right. And you come to Vegas, I feel like not just to gamble. Yeah, a lot of people who come to Vegas don't gamble at all And at one time, the casino owners would have panicked. now it's not such a big deal because they're selling rooms and concerts and all that stuff. Speaking of concerts, a recent addition to the Vegas skyline is the Shere, a two point three billion dollars entertainment venue. It's a lot more expensive than other venues might be, but it's a real premium experience. and I think it helped to prove another time that yeah, people will pay for that premium experience. Yeah, people will pay for innovation. And Vegas has managed to survive by continually placing bets on the next big thing Now the question for Prim Nevada is, can they the same. We've got to make one of the greatest comebacks in Nevada history. That's what we've got to do Cy Clementson says he is going to ignore all the naysayers. This is a tall order. This is definitely a tall order, but I think there's a lot of possibilities here Inluding a possible new airport in the next decade or so, just a mile or two from PrIim. And he's hoping that airport will bring tourists here the same way the highway once did. I think what PrIim needs to do is modernize in its own unique way. and we have to figure that out. How does PrM compete with a city like Vegas. Vegas is not that far away. I think you have different price points. It's always been a more affordable option. Trim might also be the only town that has a bootlegger buried upright with a whiskey bottle in his hand. I'm talking about whiskey Pete, the namesake of one of the shuttered hotels. At least, this is how leegend tells it. I've heard multiple stories, but I've never seen where he's been buried. so. I don't mean this to be a morbid question, but would you want to be buried on the premises here? I don't think so I don't think my wife would now I love my grandfather, but I'm not thinking about my obituary just yet. Nor is he thinking just yet about the obituary of Prim, Nevada This episode was produced by Erica Orion and Tyler Bartlum. It was edited by Christopher Tolada and Timmade Amius. Our interim executive producer is Courtney Dorning Consider this from NPR I'm Mana Summers Before we go, a quick thank you to our Consider this Pus listeners who support the show. Your contribution makes it possible for NPR journalists all around the world to do their jobs Supporters also get to hear every episode in even less time with no sponsor messages Learn more at plus. npr. org