The Silver City Casino was 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 ...

on the

Las Vegas Strip The Las Vegas Strip is a stretch of Las Vegas Boulevard, Las Vegas Boulevard South in Clark County, Nevada, that is known for its concentration of resort hotels and casinos. The Strip, as it is known, is about long, and is immediately south of ...

Winchester, Nevada Winchester is an unincorporated town and census-designated place (CDP) in Clark County, Nevada, United States that contains part of the Las Vegas Strip. It is one of a number of CDPs in the unincorporated urbanized area directly south of Las Veg ...

History

Major Riddle Major Arteburn Riddle (born ; died July 8, 1980) was an American businessperson who owned several casinos in the Las Vegas area. Riddle was born in Louisville, Kentucky. At the age of 11, he moved with his family to Indianapolis.part 2 of article T ...

opened the Silver City Casino in 1974 in the place of Riata Casino, which had opened in 1973 and closed in less than a year.

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. In ...

purchased the casino for $30 million, then refurbished both the interior and exterior. In 1991 it became the strip's first casino to ban cigarette smoking. In early 1997, investment group United Leisure bought the 8.5-acre property where the Silver City Casino sat, with plans to develop a hotel-casino on the property. In October 1999, San Francisco businessman

Luke Brugnara Luke Dominic Brugnara (born ) is an American commercial real estate investor and developer. Brugnara became known for purchasing real estate in downtown San Francisco during the 1990s. In 2015, he was convicted of defrauding an art dealer and ...

purchased Silver City from United Casino Holdings LLC, at a cost of $31.5 million. At that time, the casino was operated by

Mandalay Resort Group 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. In ...

, which leased the space. The casino had approximately 150 employees, and was planned to close at the end of the month. The closure occurred on October 31, 1999. Brugnara had applied for a gaming license in August 1999, but was still undergoing a pre-licensing investigation, which prevented him from keeping the casino open. Brugnara planned to fully remodel the casino and to demolish the adjacent Las Vegas Shopping Plaza, which was to become the site of two restaurants.

Walgreens Walgreen Company, d/b/a Walgreens, is an American company that operates the second-largest pharmacy store chain in the United States behind CVS Health. It specializes in filling prescriptions, health and wellness products, health information, an ...

opened a store on the property on November 30, 1999. By January 2000, Brugnara was planning to build a San Francisco-themed resort on the property. Brugnara planned to give Silver City a multimillion-dollar renovation, which would include building around the Walgreens store, with plans to have a fully operational hotel-casino by 2002. In March 2001, Brugnara's request for a gaming license was rejected. Brugnara had stated his intention to sue the

Nevada Gaming Control Board The Nevada Gaming Control Board, also known as the State Gaming Control Board, is a Nevada state governmental agency involved in the regulation of gaming and law enforcement of Nevada gaming laws throughout the state, along with the Nevada Gaming ...

if rejected, although he later dropped such plans. By July 2001, Brugnara had begun reapplying for a gaming license to operate the casino. In May 2002, it was announced that Brugnara had sold the casino and its 3.5-acre property to Angelo, Gordon & Co., which planned to demolish it and build a

Ross Ross or ROSS may refer to: People * Clan Ross, a Highland Scottish clan * Ross (name), including a list of people with the surname or given name Ross, as well as the meaning * Earl of Ross, a peerage of Scotland Places * RoSS, the Republic of Sou ...

clothing store. Brugnara retained six acres of vacant property located behind the casino. In 2003, Brugnara was planning to build a 24-story, 304-room hotel and casino resort on the property. The resort, to be named "Tycoon", was to be designed by Lee Linton (architect of

Caesars Palace Caesars Palace is a luxury hotel and casino in Paradise, Nevada, United States. The hotel is situated on the west side of the Las Vegas Strip between Bellagio and The Mirage. It is one of Las Vegas's largest and best known landmarks. Caesars P ...

), with an expected cost of approximately $100 million. The casino was demolished in 2004 to make way for a shopping center known as Silver City Plaza. As of November 2021, a marquee for Silver City Casino still stands on Convention Center Drive.

References

{{Las Vegas casinos Casinos completed in 1974 Defunct casinos in the Las Vegas Valley 1974 establishments in Nevada Buildings and structures in Winchester, Nevada Demolished buildings and structures in Clark County, Nevada Buildings and structures demolished in 2004