Sam's Town Hotel and Gambling Hall, commonly shortened to Sam's Town, is a

casino A casino is a facility for gambling. Casinos are often built near or combined with hotels, resorts, restaurants, retail shops, cruise ships, and other tourist attractions. Some casinos also host live entertainment, such as stand-up comedy, conce ...

brand owned by

Boyd Gaming Boyd Gaming Corporation is an American gaming and hospitality company based in Paradise, Nevada. The company continues to be run by founder Sam Boyd's family under the management of Sam's granddaughter, Marianne Boyd-Johnson, who currently serv ...

, named after its founder,

Sam Boyd Samuel A. Boyd (April 23, 1910 – January 15, 1993) was an American entrepreneur, casino manager and developer. He was noted for introducing successful marketing, gambling and entertainment innovations into the casino gambling industry, as ...

(1910–1993). Five properties have carried the Sam's Town name; three remain owned and operated by Boyd Gaming.

History

The first Sam's Town opened in the

Las Vegas Valley The Las Vegas Valley is a major metropolitan area in the Southern Nevada, southern part of the U.S. state of Nevada, and the second largest in the Southwestern United States. The state's largest urban agglomeration, the Las Vegas Metropolitan St ...

in Sunrise Manor, Nevada, on April 1, 1979. Branded as Sam's Town Hotel and Gambling Hall, Las Vegas, it has undergone several expansions, including an 18-screen theatre added in 2000. , the facility includes 645 hotel rooms. The second Sam's Town opened in 1984 in

Laughlin, Nevada Laughlin () is an unincorporated community in Clark County, Nevada, United States. Laughlin lies south of Las Vegas, in the far southern tip of Nevada. As a resort town, it is known for its gaming and water recreation. As of the 2020 census, t ...

. Originally branded as Sam's Town Gold River, it was later shortened to Gold River and was operated by Boyd Gaming until March 1991. Since then, the facility has changed names and owners; , it operates as Laughlin River Lodge. The third Sam's Town opened in 1994 in

Tunica Resorts, Mississippi Tunica Resorts,Sam's Town Hotel and Gambling Hall, Tunica, it has over 700 hotel rooms. The fourth Sam's Town was a

riverboat casino A riverboat casino is a type of casino on a riverboat found in several states in the United States with frontage on the Mississippi River and its tributaries, or along the Gulf Coast. Several states authorized this type of casino in order to en ...

that operated in

Kansas City, Missouri Kansas City, Missouri, abbreviated KC or KCMO, is the largest city in the U.S. state of Missouri by List of cities in Missouri, population and area. The city lies within Jackson County, Missouri, Jackson, Clay County, Missouri, Clay, and Pl ...

, from September 1995 until July 1998. It was branded as Sam's Town Gambling Hall, Kansas City. The fifth Sam's Town opened in May 2004 after Boyd Gaming acquired an existing property in

Shreveport, Louisiana Shreveport ( ) is a city in the U.S. state of Louisiana. It is the List of municipalities in Louisiana, third-most populous city in Louisiana after New Orleans and Baton Rouge, Louisiana, Baton Rouge. The bulk of Shreveport is in Caddo Parish, Lo ...

, from

Harrah's Entertainment Harrah's Entertainment (later named Caesars Entertainment Corporation, previously The Promus Companies) was an American casino and hotel company founded in Reno, Nevada, and based in Paradise, Nevada, that operated over 50 properties and seven go ...

. Branded as

Sam's Town Hotel and Gambling Hall, Shreveport Sam's Town Shreveport is a hotel and casino in Shreveport, Louisiana. It is owned and operated by Boyd Gaming. History First known as Harrah's Shreveport, the hotel was purchased in 2004 by Boyd Gaming from Harrah's Entertainment. Harrah's sold ...

, it has over 500 hotel rooms.

Sponsorship

Boyd Gaming has sponsored several

NASCAR The National Association for Stock Car Auto Racing, LLC (NASCAR) is an American auto racing sanctioning and operating company that is best known for stock car racing. It is considered to be one of the top ranked motorsports organizations in ...

races with Sam's Town branding. In the

NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series The NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series is a pickup truck racing series owned and operated by the NASCAR, National Association for Stock Car Auto Racing (NASCAR), and is the only series in NASCAR to race production pickup truck-based stock car racing, s ...

, the

Sam's Town 250 The Kroger On Track for the Cure 250 presented by the Southern Dodge Dealers was a NASCAR Nationwide Series stock car racing, stock car race that took place at Memphis International Raceway in Memphis, Tennessee, from 1999 to 2009. The 2007 NASC ...

was held at

Las Vegas Motor Speedway Las Vegas Motor Speedway (track complex formerly known as Las Vegas Speedway Park from 1993 to 1996, Las Vegas Speedway in 1992, Las Vegas International Speedway from 1990 to 1992, as the Las Vegas International Speedrome from 1972 to 1990) is a ...

in 1998, and the

Sam's Town 400 Stock car racing events in the NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series have been held at Texas Motor Speedway, in Fort Worth, Texas during numerous seasons and times of year since 1997. Spring race The SpeedyCash.com 250 is an annual NASCAR Craftsman Tru ...

was held at

Texas Motor Speedway Texas Motor Speedway (formerly known as Texas International Raceway from September to December 1996) is a quad-oval Oval track racing#Intermediate, intermediate speedway in Fort Worth, Texas. It has hosted various major races since its inaugura ...

from 2006 to 2008. In the

NASCAR Busch Series The NASCAR Xfinity Series (NXS) is a stock car racing series organized by NASCAR. It is promoted as NASCAR's second-tier circuit to the organization's top level NASCAR Cup Series, Cup Series. NXS events are frequently held as a Undercard, support ...

, the

Sam's Town 300 Stock car racing events in the NASCAR Xfinity Series have been held at the Las Vegas Motor Speedway in Las Vegas, Nevada since the track opened in 1997. Currently, the track holds two Xfinity Series races. The 300-mile (480 km) spring race is ...

was held at Las Vegas Motor Speedway from 1998 to 2013, and the

was held at

Memphis International Raceway Memphis International Raceway (formerly known as Memphis Motorsports Park) was an auto racing park located near the Loosahatchie River in Shelby County, Tennessee, United States, approximately ten miles south of Millington, and a few miles nort ...

from 1999 to 2007. In

ten-pin bowling Tenpin bowling is a type of bowling in which a bowler bowling form, rolls a bowling ball down a wood or synthetic lane toward ten pins positioned Tetractys, evenly in four rows in an equilateral triangle. The goal is to knock down all ten Bowlin ...

, the Sam's Town Invitational was an event on the Ladies Pro Bowlers Tour (now the

Professional Women's Bowling Association The Professional Women's Bowling Association (PWBA) organizes and oversees a series of annual tournaments for the top competitive women ten-pin bowlers. The series is often referred to as the "women's tour" of bowling. The PWBA was formed in 1960 ...

) from 1979 into the 1990s. In the mid-1990s, a

Boeing 737-300 The Boeing 737 Classic is a series of narrow-body airliners produced by Boeing Commercial Airplanes, the second generation of the Boeing 737 series of aircraft. Development began in 1979 and the first variant, the 737-300, first flew in Febru ...

operated by

Western Pacific Airlines Western Pacific Airlines, or WestPac, was an airline which operated in the United States from 1995 to 1998. A low-cost carrier, it was formed in 1994 under the name Commercial Air, later changed to Western Pacific, and began operating scheduled ...

, tail number N955WP, was painted in the Sam's Town color scheme, also listing its casino locations (Las Vegas, Kansas City, Tunica).

References

External links

* {{Boyd Gaming Boyd Gaming