Primadonna Drops Broadwater Deal

Wednesday, Oct. 23, 1996 | 11:59 a.m.

Gary Primm, Primadonna's president and chief executive officer, said Tuesday that adequate transportation is not yet in place for the coast to grow and mature into a national or international tourism market.

"Bigger and better roads and a greatly expanded and more diverse jet service are urgently needed," Primm said.

Fortunately, he said, coast leaders are aggressively pursuing those needs and "their efforts will soon be rewarded."

Primadonna, owner of three Nevada casinos, announced in July a deal to buy two of the Broadwater hotels, the marina and the 18-hole Sun Course for $41.5 million, and to buy the lease for the President casino site.

President General Manager Bruce Bommarito said he knew of no other deals for the properties. He said the company is gaining market share.

"It was an exciting project," he said, "but it's also exciting to grow as we are."

Chris Gibase, Primadonna's chief operating officer, said Primadonna remains "very interested" in Biloxi.

"We just don't think the timing is right," he said. "We know it's going to mature into a great market. But right now, we would have to build an operation that probably wouldn't be successful for a few years."

The venture would have been Primadonna's first outside Nevada.

Primadonna owns and operates three casinos - Buffalo Bill's Resort & Casino, Primadonna Resort & Casino and Whiskey Pete's Hotel & Casino - in Stateline, Nev., at the Nevada/southern California border. It also has investments in Las Vegas and New York.