Mad scramble underway near Vegas to save casino resort ghost town from total collapse
The family behind Primm Valley Resorts says it is working to revive the fading Nevada gambling hub after mass closure announcements sparked fears that it's about to become a ghost town.
Primm has long been viewed as a more affordable alternative to Las Vegas. It offers cheaper hotel rooms and lower-stakes gambling just across the Nevada border.
But Primm's last casino hotel, Primm Valley Resort & Casino, is scheduled to close on July 4. That closure would put 344 people out of work, according to Fox 5 Las Vegas.
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Cory Clemetson, president of Primm's landowner group and grandson of town city founder Ernie Primm, strongly criticized the decision.
"If the Primm properties go dark, so does the welcome they have provided over the decades," Clemetson said in a statement shared with Fox News Digital.
"It is contrary to our values to let that happen without exploring all options," he said.
Clemetson added that he and his family are working "tirelessly" to explore ways to revive the Primm properties.
"[We are] fully understanding their iconic place in our geography, and in our hearts," he said.
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"Be assured that we’re working toward a revitalized Primm and a return to better days," Clemetson said.
He also lamented the loss of jobs for "hard-working employees" and argued the operators "could have done more to make these properties successful."
"The news is especially distressing to the hundreds of hard-working employees and residents who live and work in Primm," the statement read.
"They are now faced with the prospect of losing their jobs and, in many cases, being displaced from their homes."
The closures were announced by casino operator Affinity Interactive and its principal owner, New York-based private equity firm Z Capital, which has leased and operated the Primm properties for nearly 15 years.
Fox News Digital reached out to Affinity Interactive for comment.
The first two casino hotels to shut down — Whiskey Pete's and Buffalo Bill's Resort & Casino — closed in December 2024 and scaled back to special-event operations in July 2025, respectively.
Michael Green, associate professor of history at the University of Nevada, Las Vegas (UNLV), previously told Fox News Digital that gambling tourism dropped substantially during COVID and never fully recovered.
"In Nevada, we have a lot of old mining towns where, when the boom ended, or they had used up whatever precious metal they were looking for, everybody cleared out," he said.
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"Primm, I think, could end up being the first gambling ghost town."
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Primm has seen "a slow decline" in the past 15 to 20 years, said Amanda Belarmino, an associate professor of hospitality at UNLV.
Belarmino previously told Fox News Digital that the reasons stem from development in both California and Las Vegas.
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She added, "A lot of people used to stop there just because they were so excited to … gamble once they got over the border. But since casinos are more readily accessible, Primm lost some of that appeal."
Teresa Mull of Fox News Digital contributed reporting.