New owner of North Lake Tahoe casino gets gambling license

Thursday, June 19, 2003 | 8:55 a.m.

CARSON CITY, Nev.- The new owner of the old Crystal Bay Club on Lake Tahoe's north shore was granted a gambling license Thursday by the Nevada Gaming Commission.

The commission approved Roger Norman, who has put about $4.5 million into the club that until its bankruptcy two years ago had been operating as a casino since the early 1930s. The resort will have 267 slots and eight table games, and employ 155 people.

Norman's Miracle Investments LLC submitted a winning $2.9 million bid for the Crystal Bay Club at an auction last year in U.S. Bankruptcy Court.

Norman and his wife, Elise, have many business interests in the Reno area, including Double Diamond Gaming LLC.

North Lake Tahoe has four casinos, the largest being the Hyatt Regency Lake Tahoe Resort & Casino in Incline Village.

The commission also approved Albert Seeno III as a beneficiary of a trust set up by his father, a co-owner of Peppermill Casinos Inc., with properties in Reno and Wendover. But because of concerns about Seeno's associations, the trust arrangement will be reviewed in a year.

During an earlier Gaming Control Board hearing on Seeno, board member Bobby Siller said Seeno hadn't used good judgment in associating with two men with felony convictions for methamphetamine production. One of them was a member of the Hell's Angels chapter in Richmond, Calif.

The commission also approved Las Vegas auto dealer James Marsh at the Skyline Casino in Henderson. Marsh acquired the club from its longtime operators, the Kish family.

Marsh also owns the Tonopah Station and the Banc Club in Tonopah, along with the Longstreet Inn & Casino in Amargosa.