A family steps in to save the dying casino town of Primm, Nevada

Outside the Buffalo Bill's Casino in Primm, Nev., on Wednesday, June 24, 2026. Krystal Ramirez for NPR hide caption

Primm, Nevada, was once a beacon in the desert for travelers driving on Interstate 15 from Southern California to Las Vegas — a family-friendly destination, and the first place to gamble right over the Nevada border. The proliferation of casinos across America, however, has sent the town on a long decline. Today, Primm is nearly a ghost town, where the soundtrack is primarily cawing crows and trucks speeding by on the highway.

The Prizm Outlets located in Primm, Nev. was once a thriving retail center and is now almost entirely deserted. Krystal Ramirez for NPR hide caption

Sanithrift is the only store still open at the Prizm Outlets in Primm, Nev. Krystal Ramirez for NPR hide caption

The Prizm Outlets, formerly known as the Fashion Outlets of Las Vegas, featured stores like Coach and Michael Kors. Now artists have used it as a canvas for murals. Krystal Ramirez for NPR hide caption

Gaming historian David Schwartz of the University of Nevada, Las Vegas says the tribal casinos that opened in Southern California in the last few decades offered "a lot more convenience. Instead of having to drive all the way to Primm, you could just drive a much shorter distance right up the road."

In Primm's heyday in the 1990s and 2000s, travelers flooded in for the cheap rooms and casino gambling. Rodeos, boxing matches and concerts by big artists like Aretha Franklin offered entertainment and attractions like a roller coaster (The "Desperado"), monorail and log flume ride appealed to families too.

"That was a time of big dreams," Schwartz says. "And when Vegas itself was thriving so much and just expanding and exploding, why not? Because it seemed like this would last forever."

Two of Primm's three hotels, Buffalo Bill's and Whiskey Pete's, closed in recent years. The roller coaster and the monorail are stopped on their tracks. Primm's outlet mall, which was once among the top in the country, has only one store left — a thrift store.

The Buffalo Bill's Casino roller coaster was a tourist draw for Primm, Nev. Krystal Ramirez for NPR hide caption

The monorail system in Primm used to connect the Primm Valley Resort and Casino with Whiskey Pete's. Krystal Ramirez for NPR hide caption

A few months ago, the company that operates the casino-hotels in Primm, Affinity Interactive, said it would be closing the third and final hotel in the town, the Primm Valley Resort & Casino, and laying off hundreds of staff. Hearing that news, the Primm family — which still owns the land this town is built on — decided to step in, teaming up with the Nevada-based convenience store chain Terrible's to try to resurrect this town.

"We've got to make one of the greatest comebacks in Nevada history," says Cory Clemetson, grandson of the town's namesake, Ernie Primm. "If you can turn a ghost town into greatness again, there's not anything you can't do. And so why not go for the challenge, why not us?"

The closing of the Primm Valley Resort & Casino would have left hundreds of people without jobs. Krystal Ramirez for NPR hide caption

A model for Primm's resurrection might lie right up the road, in Las Vegas — a city that has continually reinvented itself through the decades to keep luring in crowds. Tourism there is almost as high as it's ever been, despite the fact that casinos have popped up all over the nation.

"What Vegas did differently was they invested a lot of money in buildings, things like the Venetian, like Mirage, like Sphere, sports teams coming here now, Allegiant Stadium, T-Mobile Arena," Schwartz says. "All that stuff gives people a reason to come to Vegas instead of going to a casino closer to where they live."

The Sphere in Las Vegas brings a lot of visitors to the city. Tourism there is almost as high as it's ever been, despite the fact that casinos have popped up all over the nation. Krystal Ramirez for NPR hide caption

You can ride on a gondola at the Venetian in Las Vegas. Krystal Ramirez for NPR hide caption

Outside the Venetian in Las Vegas, people take photos for special events because of the architecture that mimics the canals and plazas of Venice, Italy. Krystal Ramirez for NPR hide caption