Silver City set to close Oct. 31

Thursday, Aug. 19, 1999 | 11:02 a.m.

Mandalay Resort Group said Wednesday it will close its tiny Silver City Casino Oct. 31.

About 150 persons are employed by the casino at the Strip and Convention Center Drive, and Mandalay Resort Group has already placed about a third of them in other group resorts, Corporate Public Relations Director Sarah Ralston said.

"We expect to be able to place almost everyone by closing time," she said. The 20,000-square-foot casino has 448 slots and 13 table games.

Mandalay Resort Group, known as Circus Circus Enterprises Inc. until two months ago, owns gaming properties in Reno, Laughlin and Mississippi. Its Las Vegas resorts include Mandalay Bay, Luxor, the Excalibur and Circus Circus and it is opening a hotel-casino in Detroit.

Circus Circus leased the space in what is now primarily a retail building 20 years ago and opened the Silver City in 1981. While the small casino's financial results were initially significant, the company has experienced explosive growth in recent years, becoming one of the five biggest casino operators in the world.

"We like to own our own real estate and our own buildings and don't like to put significant reinvestment into what we don't own," Ralston said.

Silver City employees were told last year the lease wouldn't be renewed when it expired and the work force has declined from more than 200 employees, mostly through attrition, she said.