Oasis (hotel and casino)
| Oasis | |
|---|---|
| Location | Mesquite, Nevada |
| Address | 897 West Mesquite Boulevard |
| Opening date | 1976 |
| Closing date | December 2008 (various portions) 2010 (casino) |
| No. of rooms | 900 |
| Total gaming space | 33,557 sq ft (3,117.5 m2) |
| Casino type | Land-based |
| Previous names | Western Village Truck Stop Peppermill Resort Si Redd's Oasis |
| Renovated in | 1976 1995 |
Oasis was a hotel and casino located on 26 acres (11 ha) of land at 897 West Mesquite Boulevard in Mesquite, Nevada, adjacent to Interstate 15.
William Redd opened the resort as the Peppermill Resort in 1976, and later renamed it as Si Redd's Oasis. Until 1990, the Oasis was the only casino in Mesquite. In 2001, Redd sold the Oasis to Randy Black Sr. and Black Gaming. Portions of the Oasis were closed in December 2008, due to financial losses. The Oasis' casino was closed in 2010, although the hotel was still used for overflow guests at Black Gaming's other Mesquite casinos. The Oasis was demolished in 2013.
The property began in the 1960s, as the Western Village Truck Stop, with 28 motel rooms and 23 slot machines. In 1976, William "Si" Redd – who founded the slot machine company International Game Technology – purchased the struggling property and turned it into the Peppermill Resort, later renamed as Si Redd's Oasis. The Oasis was the only casino in Mesquite until 1990, when the Virgin River opened. A renovation was completed in 1995, which added a few hundred rooms to the hotel.
In October 1996, Redd turned over control of the Oasis to his son-in-law, Alan Green, who was named as president and sole director. Redd's daughters, Sarah Green and Vinnie Copeland, were named trustees of the William S. Redd Family Trust, which owned the property. By 1997, management had changed several times at the Oasis in recent years, which was seen as evidence of possible problems at the resort, including new competition. In December 1999, the Mesquite City Council was sued for its decision to deny the installation of a 99-foot sign advertising the resort's Oasis Casino Liquor Store.
In June 2001, employees at the Oasis had to reapply for their jobs at the resort when it was sold to Randy Black Sr. for $31 million, despite monopoly concerns; the Black family already owned two of the city's four casinos, and the Oasis gave them 91 percent of the city's casino hotel rooms, 85 percent of the city's table games, and 80 percent of the city's slot machines. Employees alleged that Black had lied to them and was planning to demote veteran employees and cut their salaries. Black claimed that he rehired 800 of the Oasis' 900 employees, and that any salary cuts would be caused by Mesquite market conditions. At the time, Redd said about the purchase, "I had lost touch with who I was -- my thing was tinkering with machines. I was never really a casino owner. The Oasis was a good idea and it was fun, but it never really was a money maker because it was not managed right." Black took possession of the Oasis on July 1, 2001.
...
Wikipedia