Reno's Boomtown Casino changes hands, but keeps its name

A company operated by a former Station Casinos executive was expected to assume ownership of the Boomtown Casino in Reno this morning.

M1 Gaming was approved as the owner and operator of Boomtown Casino & Hotel Reno last week by the Nevada Gaming Commission. The company, headed by former Station Casinos executive Dean DiLullo, agreed to buy the 318-room hotel-casino last fall for $12.9 million from Pinnacle Entertainment, Inc.

The property on 80 acres off Interstate 80 west of Reno has a 40,000 square-foot casino with 600 slot machines and 18 table games. DiLullo told the Reno Gazette-Journal the Boomtown name would remain.

"It's been Boomtown since the 1960s. It's a very strong name and a very strong brand," he said.

M1 Gaming also operates the Reserve Casino Hotel in Central City, Colo.

DiLullo told the gaming commission last week that M1 had already hired roughly 50 people for Boomtown and the company would spend $3 million to $4 million to upgrade gaming equipment and improve other parts of the property.

He said M1 would move its corporate offices from Las Vegas to Reno.

Although Pinnacle's based in Las Vegas, Boomtown was the company's only Nevada casino. Pinnacle owns casinos in Indiana, Missouri and Louisiana, and racetracks in Ohio and Texas.