Rail City Casino (formerly Plantation Casino) is a
casino
A casino is a facility for certain types of gambling. Casinos are often built near or combined with hotels, resorts, restaurants, retail shopping, cruise ships, and other tourist attractions. Some casinos are also known for hosting live entertai ...
in
Sparks
Sparks may refer to:
Places
*Sparks, Georgia
* Sparks, Kansas
*Sparks, Kentucky
*Sparks, Maryland
* Sparks, Nebraska
*Sparks, Nevada
*Sparks, Oklahoma
*Sparks, Texas
* Sparks, Bell County, Texas
* Sparks, West Virginia
Books
* ''Sparks'' (Raffi ...
,
Nevada
Nevada ( ; ) is a U.S. state, state in the Western United States, Western region of the United States. It is bordered by Oregon to the northwest, Idaho to the northeast, California to the west, Arizona to the southeast, and Utah to the east. N ...
. It is owned and operated by Affinity Gaming. It contains of gaming space, with 896 slot machines, 7 table games, a
keno
Keno is a lottery-like gambling game often played at modern casinos, and also offered as a game in some lotteries.
Players wager by choosing numbers ranging from 1 through (usually) 80. After all players make their wagers, 20 numbers (some va ...
parlor, and a William Hillrace and sports book. Dining amenities include the Rail City Ale House and The Buffet & Cafe at Rail City.
History
The Plantation Casino first sought to open in 1976 as a partnership between John P. Richards; his son, John Leo Richards; and William and Joan Schnack. The state
Gaming Control Board
A gaming control board (GCB), also called by various names including gambling control board, casino control board, gambling board, and gaming commission, is a government agency charged with regulating casino and other types of gaming in a defined ...
initially recommended that the license be denied because of the elder Richards's alleged associations with underworld figures. The casino began operations in 1978.
William Schnack, the casino's president, received a gaming license suspension in 1989 for using
counterfeit coins
Coin counterfeiting of valuable antique coins is common; modern high-value coins are also counterfeited and circulated.United Gaming (later Alliance Gaming) for $9.5 million.
The property underwent a grand re-opening in August 1997, taking on its new name as Rail City Casino.
In May 2004, Sands Regent bought the casino from Alliance Gaming for $37.9 million. Plans for an $8.5-million expansion were announced in 2005, and were updated in March 2006 with an increased budget of $13.8 million. The casino became part of Herbst Gaming (now Affinity Gaming) in January 2007, when Herbst acquired Sands Regent.