Affinity Interactive, formerly known as Herbst Gaming and Affinity Gaming, is an American private

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 ...

and

sports betting Sports betting is the activity of predicting sports results and placing a wager on the outcome. Sports bettors place their wagers either legally, through a sportsbook or bookmaker (colloquially known as "bookies"), or illegally through priva ...

company based in

Paradise, Nevada Paradise is an Unincorporated towns in Nevada, unincorporated town and census-designated place (CDP) in Clark County, Nevada, United States, adjacent to the city of Las Vegas. It was formed on December 8, 1950. Its population was 191,238 at the ...

. It operates eight casinos in

Nevada Nevada ( ; ) is a landlocked state in the Western United States. It borders Oregon to the northwest, Idaho to the northeast, California to the west, Arizona to the southeast, and Utah to the east. Nevada is the seventh-most extensive, th ...

Missouri Missouri (''see #Etymology and pronunciation, pronunciation'') is a U.S. state, state in the Midwestern United States, Midwestern region of the United States. Ranking List of U.S. states and territories by area, 21st in land area, it border ...

, and

Iowa Iowa ( ) is a U.S. state, state in the upper Midwestern United States, Midwestern region of the United States. It borders the Mississippi River to the east and the Missouri River and Big Sioux River to the west; Wisconsin to the northeast, Ill ...

, and publishes the ''

Daily Racing Form The ''Daily Racing Form'' (DRF) (referred to as the ''Racing Form'' or "Form" and sometimes "telegraph" or "telly") is a tabloid newspaper founded in 1894 in Chicago, Illinois, by Frank Brunell. The paper publishes the past performances of rac ...

''.

History

The company traces its roots to 1987, when its predecessor was formed to service the

slot machines A slot machine, fruit machine (British English), poker machine or pokie (Australian English and New Zealand English) is a gambling machine that creates a game of chance for its customers. A slot machine's standard layout features a screen disp ...

at the Terrible Herbst gas stations. It was operated by brothers Ed, Tim, and Troy Herbst, whose father, Jerry Herbst, owned the gas stations. Their company later became a slot route operator, maintaining slot machines at other businesses such as taverns and laundromats. The Herbsts opened their first casino, the Terrible's Town Casino in

Pahrump, Nevada Pahrump ( ) is an Unincorporated towns in Nevada, unincorporated town located at the southernmost tip of Nye County, Nevada, United States, about west of Las Vegas (roughly an hour away by driving distance). Pahrump lies adjacent to the Nevada ...

, in 1996. This was followed by Terrible's Town Casino and Bowl in

Henderson, Nevada Henderson is a city in Clark County, Nevada, United States, about southeast of downtown Las Vegas. It is the List of cities in Nevada, 2nd most populous city in Nevada, after Las Vegas, with 317,610 residents. The city is part of the Las Vegas V ...

; Terrible's Lakeside Casino in Pahrump in 1999; and Terrible's Hotel and Casino (formerly the Continental Hotel and Casino) in 2000 near the

Las Vegas Strip The Las Vegas Strip is a stretch of Las Vegas Boulevard 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 the Las Vegas city limits ...

. In 2000, the Herbsts' slot company, E-T-T Inc., doubled its size by acquiring the slot route operation of Jackpot Enterprises for $41 million, bringing it to a total of 6,000 machines under management. In 2001, the Herbst brothers' gaming interests were reorganized as Herbst Gaming, Inc., in connection with a $170-million bond offering. The company opened its fifth casino, Terrible's Searchlight Casino in

Searchlight, Nevada Searchlight is an unincorporated town and census-designated place (CDP) in Clark County, Nevada, United States, at the topographic saddle between two mountain ranges. At the 2020 census it had a population of 445. History According to U.S. S ...

, in 2002. In 2003, Herbst became the largest slot route operator in Nevada by acquiring Anchor Coin and its 1,100 machines from International Game Technology for $61 million. In 2005, Herbst expanded to the Midwest by acquiring three casinos in Missouri and Iowa from W.M. Grace Entertainment for $287 million. In 2006, a statewide smoking ban was enacted in Nevada at taverns and convenience stores, which was expected to hurt the revenues of slot route operators such as Herbst. In response, the company began to diversify by acquiring more casinos. In January 2007, Herbst purchased Sands Regent, a company with four Northern Nevada casinos, including the

Sands Regency J Resort, formerly the Sands Regency Casino Hotel, is a casino hotel in downtown Reno, Nevada. It is owned and operated by Jacobs Entertainment, Jacobs Entertainment, Inc. History The property that is now the J Resort was first opened in Febru ...

and the Rail City Casino, for $119 million. Later that year, it also acquired the Primm Valley Casino Resorts, a group of three casinos at the Nevada–California state line, from

MGM Mirage MGM Resorts International is an American multinational hospitality, sports and entertainment company. It operates resorts in Las Vegas, Massachusetts, Michigan, Mississippi, Maryland, Ohio, New Jersey, Macau, Shanghai, Chengdu, Hangzhou and San ...

for $400 million. In early 2008, the company revealed that it was considering a sale or bankruptcy, because of poor financial results stemming from the

economic slowdown In economics, a recession is a business cycle contraction that occurs when there is a period of broad decline in economic activity. Recessions generally occur when there is a widespread drop in spending (an adverse demand shock). This may be t ...

and the smoking ban. Analysts said that the company was also suffering from having overpaid for the Primm casinos, which faced increasing competition from expanding tribal casinos in Southern California. Herbst Gaming filed for

Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection Chapter 11 of the United States Bankruptcy Code (Title 11 of the United States Code) permits reorganization under the bankruptcy laws of the United States. Such reorganization, known as Chapter 11 bankruptcy, is available to every business, wh ...

in March 2009 with a prepackaged plan to hand ownership of the casinos to the company's bank lenders, while the Herbst family would receive a 90 percent stake in the slot route business. After objections from bondholders, the plan was revised to give full ownership of the slot route operation to the creditors, leaving the Herbsts with no role in the business. The company, reorganized as Herbst Gaming LLC, emerged from bankruptcy at the end of 2010, owned by a group of approximately 140 investment companies and banks. Golden Gates Casino

The company changed its name to Affinity Gaming in May 2011, to avoid confusion as the Herbst family planned to rejoin the gaming industry. Some properties continued to use the Terrible's name and logo under license from Terrible Herbst, while others were reverted to their previous names. The last Affinity property bearing the name, Terrible's Hotel and Casino, was rebranded as the Silver Sevens in 2013. In 2012 and 2013, Affinity sold off several "non-core assets". The slot route was sold to Golden Gaming and JETT Gaming (a new company formed by Jerry Herbst). The two casinos in Pahrump were also sold to Golden Gaming, and the Searchlight casino to JETT. The Sands Regency and two smaller casinos in Northern Nevada were sold for $19.2 million to Truckee Gaming, a new company led by Affinity executive Ferenc Szony. Meanwhile, Affinity expanded to Colorado by buying three casinos in Black Hawk from Golden Gaming. In February 2017, Z Capital Partners, a

private equity Private equity (PE) is stock in a private company that does not offer stock to the general public; instead it is offered to specialized investment funds and limited partnerships that take an active role in the management and structuring of the co ...

firm which had already built up a 41 percent stake in Affinity, bought all outstanding shares in a transaction valuing the company at $580 million. In October 2018, Z Capital proposed to acquire competing casino operator Full House Resorts and merge it into Affinity, but the offer was rejected by Full House executives. Affinity sold its three Colorado casinos in January 2020 to Twin River Worldwide Holdings for $51 million. In March 2020, Affinity established a

special-purpose acquisition company A special-purpose acquisition company (SPAC; ), also known as a blank check company or a blind-pool stock offering, is a shell corporation listed on a stock exchange with the purpose of acquiring (or merging with) a private company, thus taking ...

, Gaming & Hospitality Acquisition Corp. (GHAC), through which it planned to become a publicly-traded company and merge with a to-be-determined company in the gaming industry. GHAC completed an

initial public offering An initial public offering (IPO) or stock launch is a public offering in which shares of a company are sold to institutional investors and usually also to retail (individual) investors. An IPO is typically underwritten by one or more investm ...

in February 2021, raising $200 million. Z Capital later announced that it would merge Affinity with a sister company, Sports Information Group, the parent company of the ''

''. The combined company would be named Affinity Interactive, and would continue to seek an acquisition target with GHAC. The merger was completed in July 2021.

Gaming operations

* Lakeside Hotel & Casino — Osceola, Iowa * Mark Twain Casino & RV Park —

La Grange, Missouri La Grange is a city in Lewis County, Missouri, Lewis County, Missouri, United States. The population was 825 at the 2020 United States census, 2020 census. Since the 1960 census, the population has been dwindling. It is part of the Quincy, Illinoi ...

* Primm Valley Casino Resorts —

Primm, Nevada Primm (formerly known as State Line) is an unincorporated town in Clark County, Nevada, United States, primarily notable for its position straddling Interstate 15 at the Nevada–California border. It sits on Ivanpah Dry Lake, which extends to ...

** Buffalo Bill's ** Primm Valley Resort & Casino * Rail City Casino —

Sparks, Nevada Sparks is a city in Washoe County, Nevada, United States. It was founded in 1904, incorporated on March 15, 1905, and is located just east of Reno, Nevada, Reno. The 2020 U.S. Census counted 108,445 residents in the city. It is the List of citi ...

* St. Jo Frontier Casino —

St. Joseph, Missouri St. Joseph is a city in and county seat of Buchanan County, Missouri, Buchanan County, Missouri, United States. A small portion of the city extends north into Andrew County, Missouri, Andrew County. Located on the Missouri River, it is the princ ...

* Silver Sevens Hotel and Casino —

Former properties

* Gold Ranch Casino & RV Resort —

Verdi, Nevada Verdi ( ) is a census-designated place (CDP) in Washoe County, Nevada, United States. It is on the western side of the Reno– Sparks Metropolitan Statistical Area, near Interstate 80 and stretches eastward towards its neighborhood-exclave o ...

* Golden Gates Casino —

Black Hawk, Colorado Black Hawk is a home rule city located in Gilpin County, Colorado, United States. The population was 127 at the 2020 United States census, making it the least populous city (but not town) in Colorado. It was a mining settlement founded in 18 ...

(sold in 2020) * Golden Gulch Casino — Black Hawk, Colorado (sold in 2020) * Golden Mardi Gras Casino — Black Hawk, Colorado (sold in 2020) * Henderson Casino Bowl —

(closed in 2013) * Red Hawk Sports Bar —

Dayton, Nevada Dayton is an unincorporated community and census-designated place (CDP) in Lyon County, Nevada, United States. The population was 15,153 at the 2020 census. Dayton is the second-oldest Nevada settlement, after Genoa, and is home to the oldest ho ...

(closed in 2008) *

—

Reno, Nevada Reno ( ) is a city in the northwest section of the U.S. state of Nevada, along the Nevada–California border. It is the county seat and most populous city of Washoe County, Nevada, Washoe County. Sitting in the High Eastern Sierra foothills, ...

* Terrible's Casino —

* Terrible's Lakeside Casino & RV Park —

* Terrible's Searchlight Casino —

* Terrible's Town Casino —

* Whiskey Pete's -

(closed 2024)

References

External links

* {{Official website, https://affinityinteractive.com/, Affinity Interactive Gambling companies of the United States Companies based in Paradise, Nevada Hospitality companies of the United States Entertainment companies established in 1987 Hospitality companies established in 1987 Privately held companies based in the Las Vegas Valley 1987 establishments in Nevada Companies that filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy in 2009