Colorado Belle
| Colorado Belle | |
|---|---|
 | |
 | |
| Location | Laughlin, Nevada, U.S. |
| Address | 2100 Casino Drive |
| Opening date | November 10, 1980 |
| Theme | Riverboat |
| Number of rooms | 1,168 |
| Total gaming space | 65,000 sq ft (6,000 m2) |
| Owner | Marnell Gaming |
| Renovated in | 1997, 2005, 2012 |
| Website | Official website |
Colorado Belle is a hotel and casino on the banks of the Colorado River in Laughlin, Nevada, United States. The Colorado Belle is a fixed building made to look like a six-deck replica of a 19th-century Mississippi paddle wheel riverboat, and has 1,168 rooms in two seven story towers. The casino has 65,000 sq ft (6,000 m2) of gaming space with more than 1,200 slot machines, keno lounge, and a poker room. A sports book is located on "B" deck. The hotel has six restaurants and two gift shops. The resort also includes two pools, a fitness room, a koi pond, a beauty spa, an arcade, and a private beach on the river.
History
Advanced Patent Technology, a slot machine maker and slot route operator, announced plans in 1979 for a hotel and casino, with Ramada Inns to manage the hotel.[1] Construction began in October, as a joint venture with John Fulton, a Southern California restaurateur,[2] and the casino opened on November 10, 1980.[3]
In 1983, a preliminary agreement was reached to sell the casino to a group including attorney William Morris and Circus Circus Enterprises executives William Bennett and William Pennington for $1.6 million,[4] but Morris quit the deal a month later.[5] The next year, Circus Circus bought the casino for $4 million, and made plans to move it to make room for an expansion of its neighboring Edgewater Hotel & Casino.[6]
Plans for a new Colorado Belle hotel and casino were unveiled in 1985,[7] and it opened on July 1, 1987, at a cost of $80 million.[8]
Circus Circus Enterprises later became Mandalay Resort Group in 1999, and was bought by MGM Mirage in 2005.
On October 16, 2006, MGM Mirage announced that it planned to sell the Colorado Belle and the Edgewater to a partnership of M Resort owner Anthony Marnell III and Sher Gaming for $200 million.[9] The Nevada Gaming Commission approved the sale on May 17, 2007,[10] and the completion of the transaction was announced on June 1, 2007.[11]
References
- ↑ "Advanced Patent slates gambling-activity boost". Wall Street Journal. via ProQuest. July 26, 1979. Retrieved June 25, 2012. (subscription required)
- ↑ "Advanced Patent starts hotel-casino construction". Wall Street Journal. via ProQuest. October 8, 1979. Retrieved June 25, 2012.(subscription required)
- ↑ "Advanced Patent adds 3 directors as part of an SEC settlement". Wall Street Journal. via ProQuest. November 25, 1980. Retrieved June 25, 2012.(subscription required)
- ↑ "Advanced Patent Technology to sell casino for $1.6 million". Dow Jones News Service. via Factiva. January 10, 1983. Retrieved June 26, 2012.(subscription required)
- ↑ "Advanced Patent says talks on sale of Nevada casino off". Dow Jones News Service. via Factiva. February 18, 1983. Retrieved June 26, 2012.(subscription required)
- ↑ "Circus Circus buys casino from Gaming & Technology". Wall Street Journal. via ProQuest. February 16, 1984. Retrieved June 25, 2012.(subscription required)
- ↑ "Circus Circus: New hotel-casino". Wall Street Journal. via ProQuest. August 19, 1985. Retrieved June 25, 2012.(subscription required)
- ↑ "Colorado Belle sets sail for grand opening". The Courier. June 24, 1987. Retrieved March 22, 2012.
- ↑ Stutz, Howard (October 17, 2006). "MGM Mirage selling two Laughlin casinos". Casino City Times. Retrieved May 6, 2007.
- ↑ Stutz, Howard (May 18, 2007). "Group gets approval to buy casinos". Las Vegas Review-Journal. Retrieved September 1, 2011.
- ↑ "MGM Mirage closes sale of Laughlin hotels". Las Vegas Review-Journal. June 2, 2007. Retrieved September 1, 2011.