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The financial crisis has struck in a place where a lot of people just throw money away. Hundreds of people are suddenly out of work in Mesquite, Nev., because the gambling industry has fallen on hard times.
The Oasis Hotel and Casino isn't shutting down exactly, but pretty close. On Friday it's moving to a bare-bones operation to ride out the economic crisis.
If Nevada is a monument to disposable income, the trouble here shows there just isn't as much "wretched excess" as there used to be. The Oasis is part of a three-hotel, three-casino empire in Mesquite that is hurting bad in the new economy.
"We're no different than anybody else, and I'm just hoping that it doesn't get worse," said Randy Black Sr., majority owner of Black Gambling.
Black's company's gambling revenue tumbled 28 percent in the third quarter of 2008. The fourth quarter doesn't look good either.
"Instead of coming two and three and four times and spending $200, $300 a trip, they're coming one or two times and spending $20. So that's really the major problem," Black explained.
They're putting the Oasis into semi-shutdown, hoping it will strengthen sister operations, the Casablanca and the Virgin River Inn.
Oasis food and beverage outlets are closing and table games are shutting down, with gambling action limited to a few slot machines. The Oasis hotel will be used mainly for overflow from the other two hotels. Five hundred company employees are out of a job.
"You immediately say to yourself, 'How can we find another job for those people within the next two weeks so they can still enjoy Christmas?'" Mesquite Mayor Susan Holecheck said.
The economic crunch is hitting Mesquite the hardest, but gambling revenues are down throughout Nevada.
"It's a symptom of the whole country, that we're living beyond our means, and here I am gambling," customer Bob Thom laughed. "But I know how to control it."
Customer Donna Pimm said, "You know, It's going to hit everybody. This economy's going to hit everybody, and I guess casinos aren't aloof of that."
The layoffs are an especially big shock here in Mesquite where the booming growth curve in recent years has fueled a lively job market. But now, with turmoil in the real estate market and gloom in the gambling business, the future is very dark and cloudy.
E-mail: jhollenhorst@ksl.com
