A Nevada town near the California border, which for decades has welcomed visitors traveling north on I-15 from Los Angeles and Southern California, may find itself empty following a series of closures over the past year.
In early May, Primm Valley Casino Resort informed the Department of Employment, Training and Rehabilitation that July 4 would mark the termination of 344 employees when the casino closes down.
Yvette Cartsen, who travels two hours from her home in California to the casino, says she worries for her friends who work and live at the casino.
“There are people in Primm who have no idea what to do or where to go, let alone afford a down payment,” she told The Nevada Independent.
What employees are doing
The July 4 closure will include more than the casino closing, as reports indicate that the Primm Valley Lotto Store along with other services will be closed as well, as the Independent reported.
According to spokeswoman Valentina Bonaparte, the DETR is identifying available resources for employees losing jobs and housing including reemployment services, emergency rental and case management.
Cartsen set up a GoFundMe page for her friends and says the biggest challenge for them is being required to work until the closure to receive a paycheck.
In the meantime, some Primm workers are pooling their resources together to lease an apartment south in Laughlin to find work there in the eight resorts residing in the community, according to the Nevada newspaper.
For the time being, many fast-food options will remain open such as McDonald’s, Carl’s Jr. and Taco Bell, per the news report, but the future of the businesses are not entirely clear since many of the employees live in housing scheduled to be closed.
First gambling ghost town?
The town that used to see large numbers of tourists visiting its resorts and casinos, along with the Primm Outlet Mall, may soon become a “gambling ghost town,” according to UNLV professor Michael Green.
“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,” he told Fox News. “Primm, I think, could end up being the first gambling ghost town.”
The once-popular shopping mall in Primm only has one operating store and the town will soon no longer be home to any resorts, reducing the potential for people to make a life in the town.
One reason for the decline in Primm’s operations was the closure of the Primm Valley Golf Club in 2024. The course closed following its sale to Eddie Haddad and Georges Maalouf.
A longtime employee who still works in Primm Valley explained to The Nevada Independent how the closure impacted business.
“We saw a lot of regular guests because of the golf courses. After they closed, we never saw a lot of those customers again.”
And according to Amanda Belarmino, an associate professor at UNLV, the town lost its appeal as development progressed in California and Nevada.
“A lot of people used to stop there just because they were so excited to ... gamble once they got over the border,” she told Fox. “But since casinos are more readily accessible, Primm lost some of that appeal.”
A targeted revival
The town that has long been viewed as a more affordable alternative to Las Vegas may see a revival in a different form, as some are not giving up on the desert location.
“If the Primm properties go dark, so does the welcome they have provided over the decades‚” Cory Clemetson, president of Primm’s landowner group and grandson of town city founder Ernie Primm, told Fox. “It is contrary to our values to let that happen without exploring all options.”
The solution may be a town designed to be more welcoming for families.
“Primm was built for what (Las Vegas) looked like 30 years ago,” Scott Butera, CEO of Affinity Gaming, told the Nevada Gaming Control Board last year, according to the Independent. “It doesn’t need another casino. It could have something as a feature for families in the Las Vegas area who want to get away. There are a lot of options for it to complement our plan.”
Clemetson called the Primm location a “unique asset” and said the company is focused on creating a special experience for the future, but does not know exactly what it will look like.