Thursday, June 23, 2022 | 6:27 p.m.
RENO — State regulators have approved a gambling license for the first newly constructed casino in the Reno-Sparks area more than two decades.
The Nevada Gaming Commission voted Thursday to approve the license sought by Las Vegas-based Olympia Gaming for the Legends Bay Casino in Sparks.
The $120 million, 80,000-square-foot (7,432-square-meter) casino is scheduled to open before the end of the summer at the Legends at Sparks Marina shopping mall along I-80 just east of Reno.
It will include a sportsbook operated by Circa Sports, table games, slot machines, video poker and multiple restaurants.
The company said Thursday it's begun efforts to hire 300 workers, with local “hiring events” continuing into August.
“Hopefully, it will open in August,” Court Cardinal, regional president of Olympia Gaming, told the Reno Gazette Journal. “We have not committed to a specific date at this point because things can change at the last minute.”
Olympia Gaming acquired the property in 2006 with plans to build a hotel-casino. A downturn in the economy put the plans on hold, and more recently the COVID-19 pandemic contributed to delays in the slimmed-down project.
Company officials say the sportsbook will be the largest in northern Nevada. Circa Sports' sportsbook at Stevens’ Circa Resort & Casino in Las Vegas is touted as the largest in the world.
