Lady Luck Casino Lies Idle in Downtown Vegas

The iconic Lady Luck Casino in downtown Las Vegas has been closed for years, and city officials are getting antsy about scheduled development of the gambling venue.

The Lady Luck, one of Las Vegas' few remaining iconic casinos, sits empty downtown, three years after it closed for remodeling and refurbishing. The gambling venue was scheduled to be shuttered for only a year, but development plans in Vegas changed drastically after the recession began, and work is not underway.

City officials are angered by the partial structure sitting exposed on the property, and the lack of upkeep on the grounds, as the rest of downtown tries to continue the everlasting reinvention process that is Las Vegas. Mayor Oscar Goodman is incensed because his beloved project, a museum detailing the history of organized crime in the town, sits adjacent to the Lady Luck property and even has an agreement to share use of some land with the casino.

Goodman's Mob Museum made national news when the mayor proposed spending $250 million of the federal stimulus package to finance the proposal. The media coverage caused President Obama to back a clause in the stimulus mandating that funds could not go to casinos or museums, and Obama and Goodman fell into a verbal feud over the import of Las Vegas conventions.

The Lady Luck closed in February of 2006, and the owner told Nevada regulators he planned on reopening by 2007. But CIM Group of California bought the property in 2007, and the company told the Review-Journal that the economic climate is slowing the development process.

Scott Adams, chief development officer for the city, said as long as CIM stayed involved in the process, there is no timetable to meet. But he would like the garage cleaned and operable, and says trash needs to be picked up. He'll accept the economic excuse for a while longer, he told the paper.

"What we are all trying to do is hunker down and wait for recovery," said Adams. "When that happens we are all going to expect some performance."