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Cindy Clark plays a slot machine at Dotty’s near Eastern and Serene in Henderson on Thursday, March 24, 2011.
Tuesday, March 29, 2011 | 2 a.m.
Sun Archives
- Ralston: Gamers and taverns and Dotty’s, oh my (3-11-2011)
- County to hold separate meetings for liquor, gaming licenses (1-18-2011)
- County puts moratorium on new tavern licenses (12-22-2010)
Sun Coverage
To call Dotty’s a bar probably would offend the quiet, mostly female crowd that has gathered this particular evening for video poker and electronic keno.
The Dotty’s on Serene Avenue is the newest storefront in a gambling chain with a grandmotherly name that has spread rapidly despite the Great Recession. It is taking over failed taverns and wicking away customers from big, neighborhood casinos.
Cassandra DeBord, who plays video poker near a potted sunflower on a dainty side table, can tell you why.
“This is a controlled environment,” the 34-year-old insurance agent said. “You don’t get the drama that you have in a bar, with men trying to pick you up. And you feel more at home here than in a big casino. I would never go anywhere else.”
But Dotty’s, with its homey, country-kitchen look, hushed surroundings and mostly nondrinking crowd, has powerful enemies.
A rare business success story as Las Vegas is plagued by bankruptcies, foreclosures and layoffs, Dotty’s has caught the attention and ire of Nevada casino giants that say the chain has earned its profits by violating state law.
More than 20 years ago, in response to a proliferation of slot machines in neighborhoods, regulators restricted the businesses that could offer up to 15 slot machines to bars, convenience stores, groceries, drugstore and liquor stores. Critics of Dotty’s say they aren’t bars under state law but miniature casinos. Since 1981, so-called “restricted” slots locations such as bars and minimarts have been defined as establishments where slot machine gambling is “incidental” to the primary business.
Dotty’s fails that standard because it lacks a bar where drinks are served to customers sitting on bar stools, doesn’t serve prepared food and generates most of its revenue from its primary attraction, gambling. That’s what Scott Nielson, Station Casinos’ executive vice president, said at a Gaming Control Board workshop last week to discuss the restricted slots rules. Big casinos represented by the Nevada Resort Association urged the workshop to press state and local licensing authorities to force Dotty’s — and a growing number of Dotty’s look-alikes — to resemble traditional bars, with tabletop gambling machines, bar stools and kitchens.
“There is nothing else going on in there” but gambling, Nielson said. “You have liquor (for sale) but none of the characteristics of a tavern.”
Dotty's near Eastern and Serene in Henderson is shown Thursday, March 24, 2011.
Because any changes to Nevada or county regulations would affect all bars, what started as a narrow attack has morphed into a David vs. Goliath battle that could encompass the entire tavern industry — little-reported, mostly privately held enterprises that employ tens of thousands of people in more than 500 locations statewide.
Some traditional taverns agree with the casinos that Dotty’s doesn’t meet the state’s definition of what it means to be a slot bar. But they have instead criticized the Resort Association’s proposal as a boldfaced attempt to curb competition now that times are tough.
Many Nevada taverns, struggling in the recession, couldn’t afford to adopt the casinos’ proposed requirements, including a 50-seat restaurant and full-service bars, owners say.
The casinos’ proposals could force the closure of hundreds of taverns, Bill Curran, a former regulator representing the Nevada Tavern Owners Association, told the workshop.
After having approved such locations for years, forcing bars to fit some preconceived notion of what a tavern should look like smacks of overregulation and protectionism, Curran said.
“Big guys (stepping on) little guys — that’s the issue.”
To casino giants, the foe is a 2,500-square-foot establishment mostly occupied by 15 widescreen slot machines, widely spaced to avoid, if need be, the possibility of attracting unwanted attention or interaction.
At Dotty’s, you won’t find any cocktail servers wearing short skirts or low-cut tops, or loud dance music commonly played in some of the town’s high-energy casinos. Nor will you see other casino hallmarks such as flashy, themed slots, blinking jackpot displays or big signs advertising buffet discounts, nightclub events or gambling offers.
You will hear Fleetwood Mac-like music that is soothing enough to discourage bumping and grinding. Instead of TVs blaring sports or the news, walls are lined with curio shelves filled with knickknacks found across America: cow-shaped cookie jars, big-eyed turtles wearing straw hats, smiling frogs sitting on benches, skinny bunny rabbits wearing shorts and stuffed dolls with gingham dresses and buttons for eyes. Further deterring hard drinking are wallpaper borders featuring kitchen crockery and pictures of children and flowers.
“It’s relaxing, not like the sensory overload you get in casinos,” Lolo Odierna said.
The 20-something mom has just dropped off her children at her mother’s house down the street and is taking a break with a soda in front of a keno machine. Odierna said she has little use for casinos after discovering Dotty’s and its “family” atmosphere.
“Boisterous or crazy people aren’t tolerated. I feel safe here,” she said.
A row of snacks is offered to players at Dotty's near Eastern and Serene in Henderson on Thursday, March 24, 2011.
The bartender of this Dotty’s, Dee Carter, stands behind a wide laminate counter and fetches drinks and packaged snacks, such as chips and jerky, for customers. Although there’s no kitchen or food preparation at Dotty’s, Carter looks like she might be standing in her own kitchen. Aside from the liquor bottles lined up behind her and nearby cases of beer and cigarettes, there’s a clock shaped like a rooster and wooden cabinets, above and below.
Carter wears a red polo shirt and khakis, a uniform typical in retail but a departure from much of the rest of Nevada’s gambling industry, where sex sells.
There are no chairs at this bar/counter, only jars filled with jelly beans and chocolates that customers can grab as they please. There are three large containers of creamer packets and other fixings for coffee. Along with water, it’s one of the more popular drinks at Dotty’s. Free matchbooks — Dotty’s allows smoking, although most gamblers this night aren’t lighting up — are offered from a big jar decorated with honeybees.
Carter’s customers range from “21 to 101,” and Dotty’s attracts as many men as women who appreciate its quiet, “neighborhood” feel, she said.
Like bars and casinos with slots, drinks are free for gamblers who spend money. But customers drink moderately, Carter said.
Carter has a bartending license and can mix drinks for customers. Mostly, though, she’s grabbing a beer or a soda from a refrigerator case where nonalcoholic drinks share equal prominence with bottles of booze.
“We developed a niche that wasn’t being served,” said Ally Estey, who runs marketing and store development for Dotty’s and is the daughter of Craig Estey, the publicity-shy owner who developed a similar tavern concept in Oregon before launching Dotty’s in Las Vegas in 1995. “We create a pleasant environment that’s bright and airy” rather than the stereotypical “dark and smoky” tavern that “promotes overconsumption” of alcohol.
Although many bars around town attracted a rowdy male clientele, Dotty’s — its carefully chosen name one its customers could relate to — was crafted to appeal to older women. With alcohol an amenity rather than a focal point, it was far from an instant success. With no advertising, Estey recalls the early days of “waiting for people to come inside.”
There are now 64 Dotty’s locations statewide, making it one of Nevada’s largest tavern chains.
Tavern owners initially dismissed the testosterone-free establishments as laughable.
“I said they’re nuts — they’ll never make it,” tavern owner Randy Miller told the workshop. Miller is among a growing number of bar owners who have launched Dotty’s look-alikes with equally feminine names such as Molly’s and Jackpot Joanie’s.
Cherie Nepote smokes a cigarette as she plays a slot machine at Dotty's near Eastern and Serene in Henderson on Thursday, March 24, 2011.
Because it allows customers to smoke, Dotty’s has taken business from competitors such as the slot areas of grocery stores that were forced to ban smoking in 2006, said Jeffrey Compton, a local gaming industry consultant who has taught marketing seminars for Dotty’s managers. Grocery customers don’t generally appreciate a bar atmosphere and aren’t hard drinkers, he said.
“You don’t have people telling stories or (cursing) like you might have in a bar,” he said. “And a lot of bars in any town will have a fixed crowd in them, where newcomers may feel like outsiders.”
Mostly, though, the Dotty’s on Serene has attracted ex-casino customers this evening.
Among them is homemaker Cherie Nepote, who gets up from her machine, takes a few steps to the counter and grabs a Pepsi.
Nepote, 39, likes “not having to wait for drinks” like she did at big casinos and chatting with Carter, who is always within earshot in the small space. With many more customers to handle, some workers at big casinos “aren’t personable,” she said.
Nearby, construction worker Cindy Clark, 53, echoes those sentiments.
“It’s convenient. You don’t have to walk through a big casino and deal with parking,” said Clark, who sips Coke from a can.
She shakes her short, brown hair when asked whether she would go to a traditional bar to gamble. She doesn’t drink much and dislikes the social pressure to drink in bars — as well as men who get too friendly with her after a few drinks.
“Here, I can play in peace without having someone moving in on me,” Clark said. “If they turned this into a bar, it would make people not want to come here.”
Yet another example of Harrah's and MGM squashing locals in a sad attempt to line their own pockets.
Good article Liz. I've been in a Dotty's once. Not my kinda place but they are opening them up all over. I'm all for someone proving their business model. The big casinos should keep their nose out of this. The people who are going to Dotty's aren't going to drive to the Strip to gamble anyway.
Comment removed by moderator. Comment was in all caps.
I agree this is a great article!
I was in the Dotty's on Flamingo (near my house) to buy cigarettes for a NYC friend (the smoke shop next door recommended I go there, go figure!) It was a peaceful relaxed place, without the casino 'juice'
I agree with the article that big casinos who have laughed at this david (well dotty) as being inconsequential had there eyes stamped out by people voting with there feet!
Sucks to be them!
Jonathan
To say that gambling should not be the primary business of a tavern, should mean also that restaurants, cinemas, bowling alleys should not be the secondary business of a casino.
I love how casinos and big business hate red tape and regulation, unless the big businesses are the ones imposing the red tape and regulations.
If impediments such as the casinos want to put in place existed 125 years ago, we'd still be using horsewhips because "horseless" carriages put the whip makers out of business. Abacus & slide rule manufacturers would have had calculators banned and Bill Gates would have been thrown in jail for trying to hurt typewriter makers. Innovation and foresight is what made America what it is today. If the resorts DT or on the Strip need locals to survive, they are in deeper doo-doo than I believed. Leave the innovators alone and worry about making your casinos more enjoyable. Quit screwing the public by reducing the payouts and rasing prices in your restaurants and maybe you'll attract locals, but I doubt it.
The first thing Station should have asked them selves is 1. How can we attract these customers. (Not force them).
2. What is it that Dotty's is doing that we are not doing. (They are providing a service at a price that the customer is willing to pay).
3. Does Dotty's engage in the practice of forcing people to walk through their forum shops coming and going from the casino or room. (NO)
4. Is dotty's a publicly traded company that has quarterly profits to make in order to have a bonus. ( probable not )
5. Is Dotty's conforming to the laws of Capitalism. (yep)
6. And why? did we (station) not pay attention to what these customers wanted when they kept telling us what they wanted instead of us telling them what they should want from us.
7. Are we having financial problems on account of what Dotty's is doing. (No we failed to cater to the middle class, And we blame everyone for our woe's instead of recognizing that we have created this , This is the end result of a perfectly engineered business concept).
8. Sometimes no sex sells too.
Why should this place escape the gaming tax? OK, it's a cute casino, but still a casino. Give us the money!
If they want to be casinos let them apply for an unlimited license. If gaming is their primary business that's what they should do, and drop the pretense that they're a bar.
Something to remember that even thought Dotty's is not paying the "gaming tax" they are not escaping paying money to the state.
They are paying "Fee's" quarterly for each and every machine they have in their places. With 56 places now they are paying a couple MILLION DOLLARS a year in Fee's.
The state aka residents of this state are getting their share of Dotty's money one way or the other.
The pay tables on Dotty's games are horrific!! They are on par with the worst casinos and slot route operators. Only a sucker would sit down and enjoy some 8/5 or 7/5 Double Double Bonus Poker or 7/5 Bonus Poker and so on.
how many people can Dotty's have playing at one time? 15
If I were Stations or any other casino, I wouldn't be tripping over these lil girls. I don't personally know anyone that's a big enough gambling addict or socially reclusive enough to go there. To each their own.
Create a sliding scale fee-based restricted gaming licence, based on gaming revenue to gross revenue ratios. The higher the percentage of gaming revenue as a part of gross revenue, the higher the fee.
I hope people see that the 'corporate casinos' are very threatened by a mom & pop poker parlor/bar like Dotty's. They are trying their best to put successful small businesses that compete with them out of business.
I for one support Estey and am very impressed by his business acumen and willingness to cater to a different crowd and reluctance to embrace all of the things that make the big casinos inhospitable to most sane people.
I don't gamble but will stop by to grab a snack and a drink and read the paper. This article makes it seem like all Dotty's don't have kitchens - This is very misleading.
This article would have you believe I am the only non-gambler that visits Dotty's. I go for the laid back atmosphere, cheap drinks and food, and to chew the fat with some 'real people'.
Stations should be more concerned with the negative publicity from attacking small operations like Dotty's and from suing the people who wanted to reopen the RoadHouse in Henderson. Technically, the arguement could be made that Dotty's are just convenience stores without gas pumps!
Competition is good. In many industries powerful interests have lobbied to enact laws which discourage competition. Usually the rationale is that these laws "protect consumers". In reality they protect market share and profit margins for business while increasing cost and limiting consumer choice. Regulators should let Dottys be.
too many "local" casinos and too many of these slot bars--waaaayyyy too many--get the slots out of the grocery stores and laundry mats and keep all this crap on the strip where it belongs--we don't need a slot machine at 7 eleven or at the grocery store when you can get all the gambling you want on the strip. The slots have ruined every good bar in town as owners have concentrated only on slot players because they are addicts and will play until they go busted! (and they all do)
mrlucky,
If you don't like slots in taverns, gas stations or grocery stores then do not use them. You have this thing called free will. You do not have to gamble, personally in 10 years I have managed never to have gambled in any of these places nor has it affected me from shopping, drinking or filling up with gas.
Your problem is that if they banned gambling in those places you would move on to banning fast food restaurants, places selling alcohol. There is never any end to regulating for you.
I could see Dottys being required to pay tax as if they are a casino, they basically are a slot machine casino. However, they should not be closed down. Dottys provides a free market service, and people choose to spend their money there. I'll visit them once in awhile. Go donate 30-50 dollars just to get out of the house and relax. sometimes I win, sometimes loose. I see no reason for them to be shut down.
Not a Dottys fan but less of a Stations fan now and will not go their casinos. They are horribly run, cant get a drink and the parking lots are not safe. They have already gone bankrupt once and have stiffed their own employees on benefits in the process.We love YOUR locals should be the slogan. Let competition bring a better product to the consumer. When you dont have competition, you have what we have now....garbage.
Never heard of Dotty's until now and it sounds like a nice place. If I ever come across one I may have to stop in and check it out, even though I am not a gambler.
I don't gamble, and I'm not in the gaming industry, so I can't speak to whether or not Dotty's offers a good product. I know it's fun to bash big anything (business, politics, etc.), but I can see where Station is coming from. They're held to these standards in order to obtain a gaming license, they have a ton of overhead, and these Dotty's places pop up, they don't employ many people, they really do nothing for the community, AND they don't have to pay anything significant in taxes. Gaming is a regulated business, and it's because of gaming that we don't have a state income tax (though we should reconsider). The Dotty's PR "David vs. Goliath" is pretty silly, but that's not stopping people from buying into it. They're not so little, and they know exactly what they're doing. To me, this is another situation similar to the mining industry. They're raking in the dough and they're not paying their fair share to the state. And meanwhile we're firing teachers, cutting programs, etc.
I'm all for entrepreneurship and competition, and I hope Dottie's succeeds if it's a product that people like, but there needs to be a level playing field and the state needs to benefit.
"Big guys (stepping on) little guys--that's the issue."
Mr. Curran has lucidly, concisely and accurately stated the issue.
Women should be required to go to a regular Bar or Casino to gamble, so men can ogle them, make comments about their bodies, and make crass sexual propositions. Dottie's should be closed down, it must be controlled by the "feminazis." Also, their bathrooms are too clean, they should allow them to get dirty like your average bar.
If I could get a license, I'd open on of these little slot parlors too and pretend I was a bar! LOL
Dottys pays their fair share of taxes both as restricterd and non-restricted licencees. If they didnt they would be closed. Don't believe the casinos saying this because it isnt true and is a smokescreen much like the children issue during the smoking debate.
If you want a raise in taxation from gaming machines to the state thats fine but its totally fair the way it has been set up for years.
By the way Stations, where are your walls around the restaurants for the non smokers?
Whether you like going there or not, or how successful they are is irrelevant. They have been using a loophole in the law to escape paying the same level of taxes, and same rules that the casinos have to operate by. They do not pay their fair share in many ways, and in my opinion I would rather have a casino in my neighborhood than a bunch of McCasinos.
But, tavern owners are liars too. Most owners I know make most of their money from gaming. The gamblers are the vips, and the rest of us are just occupying air.
Even with their once deep pockets and mega bucks influence the majors are scared and they should be. They failed to plan, invest, or save for a certain bumpy future during the good times because they were all to fat and greedy at the time to do so.
So now they pee their pants and point their finger at the little guy. This is called "majoring in the minors." It will do them no good. They would be better off spending their time and energy getting their own houses in order.
God bless the underdog.
Jafo,
There has never been a "loophole" in taxation and fees for 15 machine taverns. It always been the same since day one. No tavern owner is "escaping" or "hiding" from anything. The casinos want the revenue, but the tavern jobs will be lost fo good putting even more pressure on the states economy.
vegasheat2, you should read the article, it cleary states the complaint and what Dotty's is "escaping"
I see Dotty's locations all the time when in L.V. We do not limit our visits to only the strip or other "attractions". Never went to A Dotty's. I always thought they were a tavern /restaurant, something like Gee Bee's (without the airplanes) or the old Holy Cow (without the cows). From the article, it seems that they only offer some slot/video games and drinks and snacks. Might be a nice place to go if I just wanted to play and sip a diet coke, but I'd be more likely to stop in if one could sit down and order a burger and play keno.
The big gaming companies complaining about them makes me laugh just as much as when the big union grocery stores worried that Fresh & Easy was going to seriously hurt their business.
Whew, glad I read this before happened to stumble into there. I would have thought I was in the Twilight Zone like the first time I stepped into Chucke Cheese. I live near this place.
I'm sure that places like Dotty's are putting Strip casinos under.
Please.
Tavern owners pay a fee; casinos pay a percentage. Tavern owners can have gaming so long as it is 'incidental' to their business. C'mon, no way is gaming 'incidental' to dotty's; that's the loophole they are exploiting. Most of the taverns I've been in around here, employ waitresses, bartenders, food preparers, cleanup and bar back staff, etc., etc., not to mention their suppliers. How many people do dotty's employ?
Personally, I think food should be served any where alcohol is served. It just the right thing to do. I dont defend the Dottys model either, its just that if the gaming commission had issued these licenses over 65 times, why is it a problem now? The full service taverns are also in the cross hairs of the proposed ordinances as the resort association wants to change current law for them too. Big guys vs little guys..same story.
@jerry wayne..of course I've read the article. You need to read between the lines. This is the same paper the supported the smoking ban and min wage law.
I understand Stations concern completely - last time I was at Red Rock there were approximately the same number of slot players as in the picture of Dotty's attached to this story...be afraid, Stations, be very afraid.
Is Dotty's a tavern? No, thats why it says on their buildings- Dotty's CASINO. Why would they tell the public they are a casino, then tell the state they are a tavern? At the same time, I believe Stations should mind their own business, like paying back all those investors they screwed in that "bankruptcy".
@dpo...A non restricted license with 35 machines is in effect a casino by law. Dottys has 14 of these grandfathered licenses. The others are restricted licenses.
I may check out Dottys just to hear what it's like to step into a gaming parlor without slot noise, live music and a karaoke blasting all at once.
Station Casinos looks like a bunch of crybaby whineboxes going after the competetion.
They own most of the neighborhood casinos and obviously don't want any competetion.
"Not a Dottys fan but less of a Stations fan now and will not go their casinos."
By vegasheat2
"@dpo...A non restricted license with 35 machines is in effect a casino by law. Dottys has 14 of these grandfathered licenses. The others are restricted licenses."
By vegasheat2
First you are a semi-intered non-Dotty's fan and then you know their licensing situation? Your comments should be erased because you are a Dotty's shill,
ok mike--using your logic we could put slot machines in churches also--and why not at dmv and also the unlv student union and anywhere that people are hanging out. this is a quality of life issue--slot machines have no business in a grocery store, or mini mart or laundry mat--the whole idea is stupid and never should have been started. do i gamble in the grocery store--no, and i shouldn't have to explain it to my kid 50 times walking past the machines. Dotties is a slot casino that preys on addicted women plain and simple.
Read the these too articles.
Consistency and value are the name of the video poker game.
Designing the floor for video poker players.
Newsletter_TIS_28_August2009.pdf - Powered by Google Docs
When will they ever learn, when will they ever learn? The big guys are ignoring their market. We're not all into adolescent "glamour" and boy toy bodies. Some of us are not looking for loud "entertainment" but prefer the subdued environment.
Local establishments that treat us well, don't ignore our drink orders, don't neon us to oblivion.
We went to Vegas many times. We won't go anymore. The Indian Casinos in WI & MI give us the best Promos we've ever had. Vegas was the place to go years ago. But the greed did them in. The biggest US Casinos are in CT. We go to the Island in the UP of MI it's the 12th largest. We get all our food free, and $75-$225 to gamble with each day on an overnighter.
Good Bye Vegas