Northern Nevada casino project gets approval after long wait

Executives of a Las Vegas company have waited a long time to see their vision of building a new casino in Sparks fulfilled.

Now, the wait is nearly over — and they say it was worth every minute.

The Nevada Gaming Control Board on Wednesday unanimously recommended approval of licensing Legends Bay Casino, near Sparks Marina Park Lake along Interstate 80, east of Reno.

Garry Goett, whose Southern Highlands-based Olympia Gaming opened Casino Fandango in Carson City in 2003, is on the verge of opening the $120 million Legends Bay in August once the Nevada Gaming Commission gives its final approval, scheduled June 23.

It’ll be the first from-the-ground-up casino property to be built in the Reno-Sparks area in more than 20 years.

The property — small by Las Vegas standards — will have a 40,000-square-foot casino with 660 slot machines and 10 table games as well as 300 employees.

It’ll also have a sportsbook operated by Derek Stevens’ Circa Sports, his first operation in Northern Nevada. Licensing for the sportsbook was unanimously approved in a separate vote.

Goett plans to bring the popular Duke’s Steak House concept from Casino Fandango to Legends. “Duke” is Goett’s nickname.

Top managers at Casino Fandango will oversee both the Carson City property and Legends.

‘Food Truck Hall’

Legends also will have a “Food Truck Hall” that will include street eats served from food trucks such as Pizza Genius (pizza, Italian food and submarine sandwiches), Loco Bueno (Mexican food) and Red 88 (Asian cuisine).

The property also will include the 24-hour LB Grill that Goett described as more than a cafe with a full-meal menu, and Craft 55, pouring 55 of the top local and regional craft brews.

A Galaxy Theatres complex with an IMAX screen shares a common wall with the casino property.

The casino will be adjacent to two hotels Olympia already owns — a 104-room Residence Inn by Marriott and a 102-room Hampton Inn & Suites — and a retail center known as the Outlets at Legends. The shopping center’s anchor tenant is sporting goods chain Scheels.

In an interview after the 75-minute hearing, Goett said Olympia took advantage of waiting for the right time to go forward with the project. The company had purchased the land in 2007 and prepared the property’s design in 2008. The Legends Bay Casino and Scheels were going to be the anchor tenants for the 120-acre Outlets at Legends project.

But when the Great Recession took hold, Goett’s team delayed breaking ground on the casino.

Over the next decade, Olympia opted to downsize the casino from a $500 million property to a $350 million property, eventually arriving at the size it is today. Olympia reset the financing of the project to more than half equity and 40 percent debt. It broke ground in March 2021.

Patient with financing

“We wanted to be very patient in getting good financing and a good equity position,” Goett said. “We’re very comfortable with our project and I think we’re bringing a lot of new and exciting things to Northern Nevada gaming.”

With the hotels and retail already in place, Goett believes his company has perfectly timed the casino’s opening.

“This actually has been an outstanding thing for us because we were supposed to be the anchors with Scheels,” Goett said. “Instead, everybody else has built. The shopping center is filled up, and the hotels are built and are hugely successful, and now we’re going to drop in the doughnut hole.”

Goett said the Outlets at Legends expects 12 million visitors a year and rents are up for the retail piece.

“Now, that whole thing is full, Scheels is booming and we walk in and say, ‘Thanks for getting this all filled up,’” he said.

Goett and Stevens were mutually complementary of each other and look forward to their partnership.

“DC (Chief Operating Officer Decourcy Graham) found Circa,” Goett said. “He brought Circa to me and we started talking about it. Then I went down and checked it out and met Derek and we talked and I love the guy. He’s got great enthusiasm for his operation. He’s a great, exciting and dynamic person. I love his operation down at Circa and I said, ‘For us to have him in Northern Nevada and be in our new casino, what a perfect fit.’ It’s a dramatic addition for us.”

Stevens said the expansion of Circa Sports from its five Southern Nevada locations and its Iowa and Colorado digital operations into Northern Nevada was a matter of “the stars finally aligning.”

He said he took a team to tour the Legends site and immediately knew he had to be there.

“No empire is going to be complete without a location in Northern Nevada,” Stevens told board members in his 10-minute hearing.

He expects 12 Southern Nevada employees will move to Northern Nevada to operate the new book.

Cannabis snag

While the board vote for Legends was unanimous, there was one snag in the hearing that never reached the level of derailing licensing.

Guy Inzalaco, a member-manager of Olympia with a 39.6 percent investment in Legends, was asked about his past investment in a cannabis company.

Nevada policies ban gaming companies and their executives from investing in marijuana operations.

Inzalaco, previously licensed in conjunction with other Olympia gaming projects, said he “foolishly” invested in the marijuana company.

“I should know the rules and regulations,” he told board members. “I will not make a mistake like this again.”

Inzalaco self-reported the matter and quickly divested from the cannabis company. Board member Phil Katsaros said the matter was thoroughly investigated and he drafted a letter signing off on the issue being resolved.

Contact Richard N. Velotta at rvelotta@reviewjournal.com or 702-477-3893. Follow @RickVelotta on Twitter.