The Laughlin River Lodge (formerly Sam's Town Gold River, Gold River and River Palms) is a

hotel A hotel is an establishment that provides paid lodging on a short-term basis. Facilities provided inside a hotel room may range from a modest-quality mattress in a small room to large suites with bigger, higher-quality beds, a dresser, a re ...

and

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 ...

on the banks of the

Colorado River The Colorado River () is one of the principal rivers (along with the Rio Grande) in the Southwestern United States and in northern Mexico. The river, the List of longest rivers of the United States (by main stem), 5th longest in the United St ...

Laughlin Laughlin may refer to: Places *Laughlin, Nevada *Laughlin Air Force Base *Laughlin (Nevada gaming area) Other uses *Laughlin (surname) *Laughlin City, a fictional town in Alberta, Canada in the 2000 movie ''X-Men'' *Laughlin wavefunction, an ansa ...

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 ...

. It is owned and operated by Richard Craig Estey ( Nevada Restaurant Services). The property includes a casino and 1,000 hotel rooms in a 25-story tower. The resort has 653

slot machine 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 ...

s and a

bingo Bingo or B-I-N-G-O may refer to: Arts and entertainment Gaming * Bingo, a game using a printed card of numbers ** Bingo (British version), a game using a printed card of 15 numbers on three lines; most commonly played in the UK and Ireland ** B ...

parlor.

History

The resort was created by Las Vegas real estate developer John Midby. It opened in 1984 as

Sam's Town ''Sam's Town'' is the second studio album by American rock band the Killers. It was released on September 27, 2006, by Island Records. Regarding the album, frontman Brandon Flowers noted that he "wanted to create an album that captured, chrono ...

Gold River, later shortened to Gold River. A 25-story, 778-room hotel tower was opened in May 1990, and the gaming facilities were also expanded.

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 ...

operated the property until their contract was ended in March 1991. Gold River filed for

Chapter 11 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, w ...

bankruptcy protection in 1996. Businessman

Allen Paulson Allen Eugene Paulson (April 22, 1922 – July 19, 2000) was an American businessman. Business career in aviation Born in Clinton, Iowa, Allen E. Paulson was on his own at age 13, supporting himself selling newspapers and doing janitorial wo ...

took ownership of the reorganized company a year later, having paid an estimated $28 million for the property's $90 million in debt. It was quietly renamed as the River Palms in June 1998 and held a grand opening that October. The hotel underwent a major renovation in 1999. Paulson died in 2000 and

Columbia Sussex Columbia Sussex is a privately owned hotel company based in Crestview Hills, Kentucky. The company, owned by the Yung family, owns and operates hotels in various parts of the United States. The current president and founder is William J. Yung III ...

bought the property from his estate in 2004. After Columbia's gaming businesses went into bankruptcy,

Tropicana Entertainment Tropicana Entertainment Inc. was a publicly traded Gambling, gaming company that owned and operated casinos and resorts in Indiana, Louisiana, Mississippi, Nevada, Missouri, New Jersey. and Aruba. Tropicana properties collectively had approximatel ...

emerged in March 2010 with most of the company's casinos, including the River Palms. In May 2013, Tropicana agreed to sell the River Palms for $7 million to M1 Gaming, owner of

Boomtown Reno Boomtown Reno is a hotel and casino located in Verdi, Nevada, just west of the Reno–Sparks metropolitan area. The hotel features 318 guest rooms and suites, and the casino has a gaming area. History The property began as a truck stop called B ...

, but the sale never went through. In September 2014, Tropicana sold the River Palms for $6.75 million to Nevada Restaurant Services, and it was renamed as the Laughlin River Lodge.

References

External links

* * {{Laughlin casinos 1984 establishments in Nevada Casinos completed in 1984 Casinos in Laughlin, Nevada Hotel buildings completed in 1984 Hotels established in 1984 Hotels in Laughlin, Nevada Resorts in Laughlin, Nevada Casino hotels in Laughlin, Nevada