The first newly-constructed casino in the Reno-Sparks area in more than 20 years could open in July or August, according to the company's regional president. Construction of Legends Bay Casino is nearing completion on the northwest side of Legends at Sparks Marina.
"We're going to bring over 660 slot machines, 10 live table games, three new restaurants," Court Cardinal, Regional President of Olympia Gaming said.
The casino was part of the original master plan of the Sparks shopping center. Cardinal says this is the last missing piece of the puzzle for the area.
"We were supposed to be, along with Scheels, the anchor for the whole complex and the whole shopping center and unfortunately, when the economy hit, you know building a casino is not an inexpensive project," Cardinal said. "It just wasn't viable to do that with the economy the way it was and with things turning around, we felt it was time."
The Great Recession tabled the idea of a hotel-casino until construction started in February, 2021. The final project is an 80,000 square-foot, stand-alone casino without hotel rooms attached. Two other hotels were built in the past few years, next door, near the Sparks Marina.
"We have a partnership with the hotels, so we have a handgun and then the Marriott, the Residence Inn, so 102 and 104 keys, so those hotels have been busy already," Cardinal said.
Olympia Gaming also owns Casino Fandango in Carson City. Cardinal says the new casino is similar but it has some of its own characteristics.
"I would say it's a very updated, a more contemporary version of Casino Fandango, has some of the same elements that we found worked out really, really well in Casino Fandango and some new elements," Cardinal said.
Some of the food options are carrying over from the Carson City property.
"We'll have our quality Duke's Steakhouse, just like we have in Carson City at Casino Fandango," Court Cardinal said. "We have a new grill called LB Grill which is a very higher end 24-hour option for dining."
The property will also have an indoor food truck hall, featuring the Craft 55 Brewpub.
"There will be a ramen truck called Red 88, there will be a Mexican truck, so you can get tacos el pastor and then there will be a pizza truck," Cardinal said.
There will be a bandwagon for live bands with a 1950s-themed truck and trailer. Cardinal says the location in east Sparks, near Interstate 80 will attract a wide range of customers.
"I think we're going to see a lot of locals," Cardinal said. "I think we're going to see a lot of employees from the mall stores and I think we're going to see a lot of the tourists coming up to visit the mall and people in the TRIC community."
The hiring process is underway for some of the management positions. Cardinal says the casino will provide good-paying jobs with perks and benefits. He says more than 100 of the company's employees have worked for them for more than 10 years and 30 of them have been with the company for more than 15 years. Of course, the job openings are happening in a tight labor market.
"It will be about 300, a little over 300 people total when we're done and we're going to turn on our line level hiring towards the end of next week," Cardinal said.
The casino will include the Circa Sportsbook, which will have stadium seating and a large number of big screen TVs.
