Moulin Rouge site to open for slot machine play for 1 day
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You’ll be able to play slot machines at the site of the Moulin Rouge next month if a recommendation from the Nevada Gaming Control Board is approved by the Nevada Gaming Commission.
Control Board members on Wednesday recommended approval of a nonrestricted gaming license for slot machines only at the historic casino site at 840 W. Bonanza Road. The commission will consider the request April 18.
If the commission concurs, United Coin Co., doing business as Century Gaming Technologies, will place a trailer with 16 slot machines in it, open to the public, at the Moulin Rouge site for eight hours beginning at 6 a.m., May 14.
The eight-hour set-up is required to preserve the grandfathered rights to gaming at that location under state policy. Similar eight-hour temporary openings have occurred to preserve the license for the past several years.
There are no immediate plans to develop the property by its owner, RAH Capital, and its principal, Richard Hoffman, according to attorneys representing the owner and Century Gaming.
The Moulin Rouge, which opened and closed in 1955, was the nation’s first desegregated casino and earned a spot on the National Register of Historic Places in 1992.
Named for the famed nightclub in Paris, the Moulin Rouge was particularly important to Las Vegas history as the first integrated casino.
Black and white celebrities appeared at the Moulin Rouge to perform or to hang out after their performances on the Strip.
Among those appearing at the resort: Black performers Lena Horne, Sammy Davis Jr., Louis Armstrong, Sarah Vaughan, Nat King Cole, Duke Ellington, Dorothy Dandridge, Harry Belafonte, Pearl Bailey, Lionel Hampton and Count Basie as well as white celebrities George Burns, Jeanette MacDonald, Tallulah Bankhead, Judy Garland, Marlene Dietrich, Frankie Laine, Maurice Chevalier, Zsa Zsa Gabor, Jack Benny, Sophie Tucker and Frank Sinatra.
The operating company eventually filed for bankruptcy and multiple fires over several years destroyed the building, which eventually was demolished and cleared from the site. A famed Moulin Rouge sign has been preserved at the Neon Museum.
“It’s important to the community and it’s important for historical purposes and although the property isn’t there any longer, the location of the property is extremely historic and important to this community,” Control Board Chairman Kirk Hendrick said before the unanimous vote. “I look forward to seeing what your client has plans for developing on the site.”
