M1 Gaming, which operates the Reserve Casino Hotel in Central City, Colorado, has added the Boomtown Casino outside of Reno, Nevada to its portfolio.
The Nevada Gaming Commission OK’d the acquisition in June. M1 President Dean DiLullo agreed to buy the 318-room hotel-casino last fall for $12.9 million from Pinnacle Entertainment.
DiLullo told the Reno Gazette-Journal he would make the casino the “friendliest” destination for the locals market.
“If you can conquer the locals market, you have to be a very good operator,” he said, adding that the transition will be “100 percent seamless to our guests. It will be business as usual with fewest changes possible—no changes you’d notice, except me as CEO and general manager.”
But tourists are important to the property’s success also, DiLullo said. “We want to be like Cheers, where everybody knows your name.”
The property includes 80 acres off Interstate 80 west of Reno and has a 40,000-square-foot casino with 600 slot machines and 18 table games.
While DiLullo plans a $3 million to $4 million upgrade, the Boomtown name will remain the same.
“It’s been Boomtown since the 1960s,” DiLullo said. “It’s a very strong name and a very strong brand.”
