''American Casino'' is an American

reality Reality is the sum or aggregate of all that is real or existent within a system, as opposed to that which is only imaginary. The term is also used to refer to the ontological status of things, indicating their existence. In physical terms, r ...

television series A television show – or simply TV show – is any content produced for viewing on a television set which can be broadcast via over-the-air, satellite television, satellite, or cable television, cable, excluding breaking news, television adverti ...

which tracks the daily events of the managers and employees of the Green Valley Ranch Casino resort in

Henderson, Nevada Henderson is a city in Clark County, Nevada, United States, about southeast of downtown Las Vegas. It is the second largest city in Nevada, after Las Vegas, with an estimated population of 320,189 in 2019. The city is part of the Las Vegas Vall ...

, a suburb of

Las Vegas Las Vegas (; Spanish for "The Meadows"), often known simply as Vegas, is the 25th-most populous city in the United States, the most populous city in the state of Nevada, and the county seat of Clark County. The city anchors the Las Vegas ...

. The show began airing on the

Discovery Channel Discovery Channel (known as The Discovery Channel from 1985 to 1995, and often referred to as simply Discovery) is an American cable channel owned by Warner Bros. Discovery, a publicly traded company run by CEO David Zaslav. , Discovery Channe ...

on June 4, 2004, but was moved to the Travel Channel in June 2005. In other countries including Europe, the show continued to air on Discovery. The show was executive produced by

Craig Piligian Craig Piligian (born August 25, 1957) is an Armenian American television producer, and the President and CEO of Pilgrim Films & Television. As an Executive Producer, he is best known for creating ''The Ultimate Fighter'', ''American Chopper'' and ...

Pilgrim Films & Television Pilgrim Media Group (also known as Pilgrim Studios) is a television production company based in North Hollywood, California. It was founded in 1997 by Craig Piligian. It is best known for producing reality television shows for the Discovery Channel. ...

. Piligian had also created '' American Chopper'' and ''

American Hot Rod ''American Hot Rod'' is a reality television series that originally aired between 2004 and 2007 on The Learning Channel and Discovery Channel. The series followed renowned car designer Boyd Coddington and his crew as they built hot rods and cust ...

''.

Subjects

Subjects of the show have included: * Pat Kearns - SVP of Operations * Dan Wilson - VP of Marketing * Joe Hasson - General Manager * Ralph Marano - Assistant General Manager * Wayne Shadd - Director of Marketing * David Demontmollin - Marketing Manager * Michael Tata - Vice-President of Hotel Operations (2004) * Bret Magnun - Vice-President of Hotel Operations * Ninya Perna - Hotel Manager * Joe Mulligan - Executive Chef * Willie Bierlien - Banquet Chef * James Fricker - Pastry Chef * Alex Peluffo - banquet and Convention Operations * Dawn Laguardia - Director of Food and Beverage * Bill Burt - Director of Casino Operations * Matt Sacca - Director of Player Operations * Cheryl Rose - Director of Slot Operations * Fred Tuerck - Assistant Security Manager * Kelly Downey - Manager, Race and Sports Books * Lorenzo Fertitta, President, Station Casinos * Frank Fertitta, Chairman & CEO Relatively free of interpersonal drama, episodes have included a behind-the-scenes look during rock concerts, slot promotions, blackjack tournaments, weddings, and other events.

Production

Filming began in January 2004, at the

Green Valley Ranch Green Valley Ranch is a hotel and casino located within the eponymous community in Henderson, Nevada. It is owned and operated by Station Casinos, and includes a casino. The resort was initially proposed by American Nevada Corporation, which rec ...

hotel and casino in

. Approximately 600 hours of footage was shot for the first hour-long episode. Michael Tata, vice president of hotel operations, died of an accidental

fentanyl Fentanyl, also spelled fentanil, is a very potent synthetic opioid used as a pain medication. Together with other drugs, fentanyl is used for anesthesia. It is also used illicitly as a recreational drug, sometimes mixed with heroin, cocaine ...

overdose on July 6, 2004. Prior to Tata's death, more than a dozen additional episodes had been planned for the series' first season, which initially consisted of 13 episodes. The ending of the series' seventh episode, airing on July 16, 2004, acknowledged Tata's death: "In memory of Michael Tata." In August 2004, the show was renewed for an additional 18 episodes. Later that month, an episode involving Tata's death was delayed without explanation until later in the year.

References

External links

Green Valley Ranch website''American Casino'' at IMDB
{{Discovery Channel programming Television shows set in the Las Vegas Valley 2000s American reality television series 2004 American television series debuts 2005 American television series endings Discovery Channel original programming