While the advent of online gambling certainly made casino gaming more accessible to many, the revolution in availability has also had a big impact on casino towns across the US. The changing landscape of legal gambling across the nation has also been a factor, with the rise of Native American tribal casinos giving gamblers more choice across the country.
From the once-thriving casino capital of the South to a historic Nevada-California border town or a one-time close rival to Las Vegas fallen on hard times, these are three casino towns where the house hasn’t always been winning in recent years.
Tunica, Mississippi, is Losing Casinos Fast
In the 1990s, the explosion of “riverboat” gambling in the American South led to the small Mississippi town of Tunica becoming one of the country’s gambling hotspots.
When Mississippi legalized gambling on water-borne venues in 1991, operators immediately stepped in. But, instead of building river-borne gambling boats – they built channels from the river inland, and built casinos on stationary but technically floating barges on only a few feet of water. Over time, additional structures like hotel towers and amenities were built on the land around them.
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The original batch of casinos in Tunica closed as more moved inland to Tunica Resorts, an area around 10 miles north of the town. At one point, there were eleven casinos, and a twelfth in development, in the region. The area was for a while in third place for US gambling revenues, close behind Atlantic City.
However, the rise of Native American tribal casinos and online gambling has led to Tunica dropping down to 7th in the list of gambling towns by revenue.
Today, there are just six casinos in Tunica – soon to be five – fighting it out for a much reduced customer base. The remaining casinos are:
- 1st Jackpot Casino Tunica
- Fitz Tunica Casino & Hotel
- Gold Strike Tunica
- Hollywood Casino Tunica
- Horseshoe Casino Tunica
Sam’s Town Casino Tunica, run by Las Vegas-based Boyd Gaming, recently announced it will be closing in November 2025.
Atlantic City is Nowhere Near What it Once Was
Despite once rivalling Las Vegas as a US gambling destination in some ways, New Jersey’s Atlantic City is today just a shadow of its prime.
The city had 14 giant casinos in 2006, but today there are only nine left – with the newest opened in 2003.
A highlight of its state of affairs is that online gambling revenue in New Jersey now exceeds the total of all its physical casinos. So, while the state may be getting as much gambling tax as ever, its once primetime resort town is floundering fast.
Atlantic City never had the best reputation, but ask anyone today and they’ll tell you it’s going downhill fast.
The primary causes of decline for New Jersey’s once thriving casino resort business have been:
- Increased competition from commercial and tribal casinos in nearby Pennsylvania, Maryland and Delaware
- The pandemic shutdowns and then swift legalization of online gambling in New Jersey
- Interestingly, President Donald Trump had a big influence on the city. Before politics, he built two large casino resorts in Atlantic City in the late 80s and then both went bankrupt by the mid 90s
The prospect of three casinos opening in downstate New York sometime in the next five years – touted as being a future rival to Las Vegas in scale of revenues – could be the nail in the coffin of Atlantic City’s once booming gambling scene.
Historic Primm, Nevada, Has One Casino Left
The town of Primm, Nevada, on the border with California, was once a prime stop off location for Californians driving to Las Vegas. The town’s three giant casinos, including two wooden rollercoasters, dominated life here for three decades – but now there’s only one left.
Due to the rise of Californian tribally-operated casinos, and the growth of Las Vegas as an international tourist destination over a domestic one, the amount of travellers heading past Primm fell off rapidly since the early 2000s.
Out of its three once popular casino hotels – Whiskey Pete’s, Buffalo Bill’s and Primm Valley – only the latter remains open. Pete’s closed shop in 2024 and Bill’s closed earlier in 2025.
The town is also notable for its expansive ghost mall. Primm Outlets, formerly known The Fashion Outlets of Las Vegas, hosted more than 100 stores in its 2000s heyday. Today it has just one.
On the plus side for Primm, it has somewhat of a cottage industry in tourism due to it heavily featuring in the cult-classic, post apocalyptic videogame Fallout: New Vegas. Funnily enough, in the game’s nuclear wasteland version of the Mojave Desert, there are actually two casinos open in Primm – one more than in real life.
Although that niche interest will never be enough to sustain three giant casinos, there are some businesses in the small town that benefit.
Primm also has a side hustle in lottery sales. Because of its proximity to California – where there is no legal lottery – Primm’s two small stores sell more lottery tickets than anywhere else in Nevada.
