The Colorado Belle is a

casino hotel A casino hotel is an establishment consisting of a casino with temporary lodging provided in an on-premises hotel. Customers receive the benefits of both gambling facilities and lodging. Since the casino and hotel are located on the same premis ...

on the banks of the

Colorado River The Colorado River ( es, Río Colorado) is one of the principal rivers (along with the Rio Grande) in the Southwestern United States and northern Mexico. The river drains an expansive, arid drainage basin, watershed that encompasses parts of ...

Laughlin, Nevada Laughlin is an unincorporated resort town and census-designated place in Clark County, Nevada, United States. It is located on the Colorado River, directly across from the much larger Bullhead City, Arizona. Laughlin lies south of Las Vegas, i ...

, owned and operated by

Golden Entertainment Golden Entertainment is an American gaming company based in Enterprise, Nevada that operates casinos, taverns and slot routes. It was formed in 2015 by the merger of Golden Gaming (founded in 2001 by Blake Sartini) and Lakes Entertainment. It is ...

. Initially closed on March 17, 2020 due to the

COVID-19 pandemic The COVID-19 pandemic, also known as the coronavirus pandemic, is an ongoing global pandemic of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2). The novel virus was first identif ...

, on May 18, 2020, Golden Entertainment announced that the Colorado Belle would remain closed "indefinitely," even after casinos were allowed to reopen. As of July 2022, the property remains closed. The Colorado Belle is a fixed building made to look like a six-deck replica of a 19th-century

Mississippi River The Mississippi River is the second-longest river and chief river of the second-largest drainage system in North America, second only to the Hudson Bay drainage system. From its traditional source of Lake Itasca in northern Minnesota, it f ...

paddle steamer A paddle steamer is a steamship or steamboat powered by a steam engine that drives paddle wheels to propel the craft through the water. In antiquity, paddle wheelers followed the development of poles, oars and sails, where the first uses wer ...

riverboat, with 1,168 rooms in two seven-story towers. The casino had of gaming space with 750

slot machine A slot machine (American English), fruit machine (British English) or poker machine (Australian English and New Zealand English) is a gambling machine that creates a game of chance for its customers. Slot machines are also known pejoratively a ...

s, and 16 table games. The hotel had three restaurants: The Loading Dock, Big Easy Deli, and Pints brewery. The resort also included two pools, a fitness room, two gift shops, a

koi or more specifically , are colored varieties of the Amur carp ('' Cyprinus rubrofuscus'') that are kept for decorative purposes in outdoor koi ponds or water gardens. Koi is an informal name for the colored variants of ''C. rubrofuscus'' ke ...

pond and an arcade.

History

Advanced Patent Technology Bally Technologies, Inc. is an American manufacturer of slot machines and other gambling technology based in Enterprise, Nevada. It is owned by Light & Wonder. The company was founded in 1968 as Advanced Patent Technology. It eventually changed i ...

, a slot machine maker and

slot route operator A Slot route operator is a company that owns and operates slot machines in several locations. By providing this service, many small businesses are able to provide slot machines that they could not otherwise afford to operate. As operators have gr ...

, announced plans in 1979 to build a hotel and casino, with the hotel to be managed by Ramada. Construction began in October, as a joint venture with John Fulton, a

Southern California Southern California (commonly shortened to SoCal) is a geographic and Cultural area, cultural region that generally comprises the southern portion of the U.S. state of California. It includes the Los Angeles metropolitan area, the second most po ...

restaurateur and the casino was opened on November 10, 1980. In 1983, a preliminary agreement was reached to sell the casino to a group including attorney William Morris and

Circus Circus Enterprises Mandalay Resort Group (formerly Circus Circus Enterprises) was an American hotel and casino operator based in Paradise, Nevada. Its major properties included Mandalay Bay, Luxor, Excalibur and Circus Circus, as well as half of the Monte Carlo. ...

executives

William Bennett William John Bennett (born July 31, 1943) is an American conservative politician and political commentator who served as secretary of education from 1985 to 1988 under President Ronald Reagan. He also held the post of director of the Office of ...

and

William Pennington William Pennington (May 4, 1796 – February 16, 1862) was an American politician and lawyer. He was the 13th governor of New Jersey from 1837 to 1843. He served one term in the United States House of Representatives, during which he served as ...

for $1.6 million but Morris quit the deal a month later. The next year, Circus Circus bought the casino for $4 million, and made plans to move it to make room for an expansion of its neighboring

Edgewater Hotel and Casino The Edgewater Hotel and Casino is a casino hotel on the banks of the Colorado River in Laughlin, Nevada, owned and operated by Golden Entertainment. Facilities The hotel has 1,053 rooms divided between two towers: a large 26-story tower, Sedon ...

. Plans for Colorado Belle were unveiled in 1985 and it opened on July 1, 1987, at a cost of $80 million. Circus Circus Enterprises later became Mandalay Resort Group in 1999 and was bought by

MGM Mirage MGM Resorts International is an American global hospitality and entertainment company operating destination resorts in Las Vegas, Massachusetts, Detroit, Mississippi, Maryland, and New Jersey, including Bellagio, Mandalay Bay, MGM Grand, and Par ...

in 2005. In June 2007, MGM Mirage sold the Colorado Belle and the Edgewater to a partnership of Anthony Marnell III and Sher Gaming for a total of $200 million. In January 2019,

bought the Colorado Belle and the Edgewater from Marnell and Sher for a total of $190 million. During the

, the Colorado Belle was among businesses that were ordered by Nevada Governor

Steve Sisolak Stephen F. Sisolak (born December 26, 1953) is an American businessman and politician who has served as the 30th governor of Nevada since 2019. A member of the Democratic Party, he served on the Clark County Commission from 2009 to 2019 and on t ...

to close on March 17, 2020, to prevent the spread of the virus. On May 18, 2020, Golden Entertainment announced that the Colorado Belle would remain closed indefinitely due to the economic impact of the business closures and uncertainty about the market. Approximately 400 employees were laid off, although some could relocate to Golden Entertainment's other properties, such as the Edgewater and

Aquarius Casino Resort The Aquarius Casino Resort (formerly Flamingo Hilton Laughlin and Flamingo Laughlin) is a hotel and casino located on the banks of the Colorado River in Laughlin, Nevada. It is owned and operated by Golden Entertainment and is the largest hotel ...

. In February 2022, the general manager of Golden Entertainment’s Laughlin properties, "didn’t have an update on the status of the Colorado Belle." As of May 2022, the property remains closed.

References

External links

* * {{coord, 35.15798, -114.57203, type:landmark_globe:earth_region:US-NV, display=title 1980 establishments in Nevada 2020 disestablishments in Nevada Casino hotels Defunct casinos in Nevada Defunct hotels in Nevada Casinos completed in 1980 Casinos in Laughlin, Nevada Golden Entertainment Hotel buildings completed in 1980 Hotels established in 1980 Hotels disestablished in 2020 Hotels in Laughlin, Nevada Mandalay Resort Group Resorts in Laughlin, Nevada