Visitreno

[remano]

Thursday's paper reported that the Peppermill plans to build a $400 million "Mini-Bellagio" in West Wendover on the Utah border. One attraction is that there are no Indian casinos in Utah to compete with. My guess is that this means they won't be putting much money into Reno's Western Village for a while.

http://news.rgj.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=2008803130331

Jews don't recognize Christ as the Messiah.

Protestants don't recognize the Pope as the head of the church.

Mormons don't recognize each other in the Wendover casinos.

[hawk]

thanks for sharing, Remano.

Liked the joke too. They order OJ and receive (what looks to me like)
a coke from the waitress.

[Ryder]

[CaSwede]

Now that was a funny joke....and one I have not heard.

I stopped in a stayed one night at the Montego Bay last year. It looked just like the Peppermill to me. Big surprise- they own this place too.

Mini- Bellagio? I thought the Wynn was the toast of the town in Vegas now. Steve Wynn would not like those comments.

[Mammothgambler]

Thanks for the info guys. I was wondering if anyone else has been there. To my surprise, I hit their website sometime back and their rooms at all 3 hotels (Peppermill, Rainbow, Montego Bay) seem identical to the current older decor that I'm sorry to see being gone in Reno. So that means at least I have someplace else to go after the Reno Peppermill gets all "Tuscan'd out". Hahaha.

I also checked out their little casino in Henderson last time I was in LV, it's called The Rainbow Henderson. Little divey place, but the neon and script writing on all the signage gave it a striking resemblance. I also didn't know it but there's a Peppermill Restaurant on the LV strip! From what I've seen it appears to be a combination of the Coffee Shop and the Fireside Lounge.

Has anyone had any luck in Wendover? Some people here are talking about doing a mountain bike trip to Utah this summer and I was wondering if it would be worth stopping. Their slogan says, "So Much Fun, It Must Be Nevada," but hell, there's also Reno, Tahoe, Vegas, Laughlin...

Mammothgambler

[lvbear584]

Has anyone had any luck in Wendover?

I make about six trips a year to Wendover, flying to Salt lake City and renting a car for the easy 110-mile drive to Wendover on I-80. The SLC airport is on the west edge of town. There is hardly any traffic between the airport and Wendover.

I found an old report I made, and updated it as appropriate. There are few changes in Wendover:

Wendover comments and observations:

Everyone at the three Peppermill properties (Peppermill, Montego Bay, and Rainbow) appeared relaxed and unconcerned with my play, though my bets were higher than most of the action there. I played about twenty hours in less than three full days. I saw only one player consistently betting more; a drunken ploppy who was betting $500 a hand, and tipping the pretty young female dealer $25 on almost every hand. He eventually lost thousands, while the dealers made at least a thousand from him.

The three Peppermill properties are all well-managed and pleasant with identical blackjack games. The atmosphere is friendly; comps are generous. The games are mostly dealt by Reno standards with better rules. Player’s cards are the same for all three properties.

My only complaints about The Peppermill properties are:

(1) Peppermill does not offer safe-deposit boxes at the desk or the cage. The boxes are located in the Security Office. Why they were put in the most dangerous place in the casino is a mystery to me. I do not want casino guards knowing I have enough cash on me to merit bothering with a safe-deposit box. Who do I call when they try to rob me, or sneak into my room to steal whatever else they can find?

(2) The independent sports book in the Rainbow and the Montego Bay does not like much action, and is sneaky. Beware, the line you are given when placing a bet may not be the line that’s on the board. Check tickets carefully before leaving the window. Montego Bay and Rainbow have identical lines, but not necessarily the same as Peppermill Reno lines. Wendover Peppermill closed its book a few years ago.

(3) The stupid Royal Match that slows the games down everywhere, including the $25 tables. I can’t blame management for offering it, though. Many Wendover ploppies play it, some for as much as $50 or $75 a hand. LOL!

By contrast, the Wendover Nugget is a mismanaged, paranoid sweatshop. It’s owned by the same bozos who own the Pahrump Nugget and part of Boulder City Hacienda. One dealer told me, “The casino manager is so scared of action that they chased off all the big players.” Most dealers deal a pitiful five rounds heads-up, and only three rounds to two hands. A few deal four rounds to two. A $100 bet drew a “checks play” call. The table max is $1000, but I don’t think anyone playing anywhere near $1000 would last long there. Unfortunate, because it's a nice facility, but saddled with incompetent management. It had only about half as many customers as the well-run Peppermills. The constant shuffling substantially reduces the hands-per-hour and the casino’s profit. Needless to say, I didn’t spend much time at the Nugget. I had to laugh when my buy-in nearly emptied the rack of greens. There were about five tubes of $1 chips, the rest mostly red chips. LOL!

The other inferior property is the Red Garter. It has all double deck with bad rules, mediocre penetration, and a too-low table max. I did not play there at all. It seems to attract the lowest-level ploppies in the city. It is similar to Baldini's, Bonanza, and Diamonds in the Reno area, and El Cortez in Las Vegas.

Peppermill has free high-speed Internet in the lobby, but you cannot hook up your own computer – you must use the Peppermill’s computer. The screen is easily visible to anyone standing behind you. Rainbow's free high-speed Internet is more discreet, located near the hotel's front desk but set up in such a way that it is not easy for someone to spy on your Internet usage.

The Rainbow’s “Over the Rainbow” coffee shop is a good place. Though I did not have to pay for any meals in Wendover, I would have been glad to pay --- food and service were excellent.

After a couple of days in Wendover, I took a side trip to Jackpot, where I had not been for a couple of years. It’s as small as I remember it; only three casinos offering table games, all with table maximums less than my max bet. It was entertaining, though, watching the ploppies and playing a bit at lower-than-normal stakes.

One ploppy stood on A, 5. Another ploppy told him, “You should hit your six.” The stupider ploppy replied, “No, its sixteen, and ‘the book’ says not to hit a sixteen against dealer’s four.” LOL!

At one table where I briefly played, a ploppy kept telling the dealer to slow down. I kept telling the dealer to speed up. Eventually the ploppy left, giving me a fast heads-up game.

Cactus Pete’s and Barton’s Club 93 do not use discard trays. The dealer holds the used cards in his or her hand, like at Laughlin Riverside. This is a good thing, if you are alert.

Barton’s free pens are nicer than those from most casinos. I bagged a dozen or so.

Cactus Pete’s has translucent plastic player’s cards, and only your first name is put on the card. A nice touch.

One employee told me she commutes ninety miles round trip every day from Twin Falls, Idaho. How sad, to have to go ninety miles over deer-infested two-lane highway every day to work at a low-level job in a small casino.

I got a room comp in Jackpot, planning to sleep a few hours, play graveyard shift, then drive back to Wendover. Big mistake. When I awoke, Jackpot (elevation 5200 feet) was covered with snow, and huge chunks of snow were coming down. The wind was howling. It was awful. Ugh! I skipped graveyard play, and quickly hit the road, thinking the road conditions might get even worse if I waited. The yellow flashing lights were lit on the sign that said CHAINS OR SNOW TIRES REQUIRED on southbound Highway 93. I ignored the sign, and made it safely to Wells, 68 miles south of Jackpot, before grabbing a quick breakfast-to-go at the Wells Burger King. I saw exactly one other vehicle the entire 68 miles.

I-80 also required CHAINS OR SNOW TIRES. But I ignored this, too. I made it safely back to Wendover without incident.

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Opinions and Commentary on the Gaming Industry: www.TheBearGrowls.com

[CaSwede]

Interesting report on the BJ conditions in Wendover.

Elko County is booming right now and flush with cash. Gaming revenues are way up out in the east part of Nevada. Why would that be? Well, they do a lot of mining out there, and have you checked the price of gold lately?

I have stopped and stayed at several of the towns along the I-80 to Utah. Lovelock has only one casino with a decent coffee shop. Winnemuca is an interesting town. Lot's of dive bars and small casinos. I can't remember the name of one place next to Winners hotel/casino, but they have a sign on the door: "No firearms allowed"....watch out for this place. My last trip, I stayed at the Model T- They had some outstanding dining specials. Elko has some larger casinos, but I did not find too many full pay video poker games. The Red Lion is probably the nicest in town. they used to do a lot of fly/stay packages in this town.

Wendover has the best casinos by far along the I-80. You would not believe the number of buses that come in from Salt Lake City. I spent the night during the week, and was surprised to see they had a 9 piece band playing that night. Room rates are a real bargain.

Good luck if you decide to head over to Utah to mountain bike.