Later this month, the unmistakable, ubiquitous music and sound effects of slot machines will return to the Las Vegas Club and the Mermaids casino, but for only 16 hours.
The buildings that the two properties are housed in were purchased by Greg and Derek Stevens in 2015 and 2016. The brothers own the D Las Vegas and Golden Gate Casino, both of which are located in Downtown Las Vegas.
In order to keep the grandfathered gaming license for the two buildings intact, casino play must occur at each site for a minimum of eight hours every two years. Approval of a plan to make that happen, effectively preserving the gaming license, was recommended by the state Gaming Control Board on Wednesday, according to the Las Vegas Review-Journal.
The plan will reportedly be reviewed by the Las Vegas City Council on June 21 with the Nevada Gaming Commission scheduled to sign off on it the following day.
On June 27, slot route operator United Coin Machine will reportedly set up 16 slot machines for eight hours at the Las Vegas Club, which the Stevens brothers acquired for an undisclosed amount in August 2015. United Coin Machine, owned by Montana-based Century Gaming Technologies, will then relocate the slot operation to Mermaids on June 28 for eight hours.
The stand-alone Mermaids casino closed last year on June 27, along with the Topless Girls of Glitter Gulch gentleman’s club on Freemont Street, and La Bayou, the last fully coin operated slot casino in Las Vegas.
At the time, Derek Stevens said that when he and his brother purchased the Las Vegas Club in August (2015), they knew then that they “wanted to look at a larger footprint,” according to the news agency. Stevens said, “Now that we’ve done this transaction, it completely changes the scope of what the project could become. I’m going to need a little time with my team to start thinking through what this project will look like.”
The Las Vegas Review-Journal reports that no further details have been disclosed by Stevens regarding the Fremont Street properties.