Update: Primm Valley Resort & Casino is currently the only hotel open in Primm. Whiskey Pete's casino is open but the hotel isn't. Buffalo Bill's is completely closed.
Jean's landscape is changing. The small, unincorporated commercial town used to be a gambling stop-off 30 minutes before Las Vegas on I-15, ten minutes north of Primm and the California border.
Jean’s last remaining casino, Terrible's Hotel & Casino, operated by the Herbst family, announced in November 2021 it was closed indefinitely.
The property had already been closed more than a year and a half since adverse health conditions arose leading to a shutdown in March 2020.
In February 2022, it was announced that a development company was under contract to purchase the Terrible's Hotel & Casino property and nearby real estate in Jean.
Their plan is to build 1.9-million square feet of warehouse space as part of an industrial park and distribution center.
Clark County commissioners have approved the proposed industrial park project. This means it’s the end of casinos in Jean, for now.
Jean first had a casino in the late 1980s. For much of its time, the property was known as the Gold Strike Hotel and Gambling Hall.
This was followed by a second casino, the Nevada Landing, which opened on the west side of Jean in 1989. Jean became known as a gambling stop and things seemed to be looking up for the town.
During this time, Jean had hotel-casino properties on both sides of I-15. However, fortunes changed. The Nevada Landing was the first to go, demolished in 2008 during the period of the Great Recession.
The Gold Strike faced challenges of its own. In 2018, the property’s name was changed to Terrible’s Hotel & Casino and then it closed down in March 2020.
The Terrible’s Hotel & Casino name was still visible on the property as of 2022.
The adverse health conditions that lead to shutdowns and have hurt travel and gaming revenue have hurt smaller casino operators such as the Hearst family and Affinity Gaming in Primm.
Primm has similarly felt economic pain with the closing of Buffalo Bill’s Resort & Casino.
The large publicly traded gaming companies such as MGM and Caesars have been less affected.
These companies have more resources, economies of scale, more ways to withstand closures and restrictions, absorb losses, and gain capital than smaller operators.
Gaming isn’t completely going away from Jean. There are still slot machines in Jean's sprawling travel center.
If you're coming from California, there are two large hotel-casino properties open in Primm, the Primm Valley Resort and Whiskey Pete’s Hotel and Casino.
These properties are just across from the California border, twelve miles south of Jean.
With the growth of Clark County and the new industrial park being built in Jean, the community is likely to grow in the coming years.
This could pave the way for new Jean casino properties to be built in the coming years.
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