Primm Casinos – Not What They Used to Be

Buffalo Bill's Casino in Primm on March 19, 2024.Buffalo Bill's Casino in Primm on March 19, 2024. (Kristina Mehaffey/Advantage Media)

On March 19, 2024, we visited Primm. It is a casino town on the border of California. It is also the closest place for Las Vegas residents to buy lottery tickets.

There are three casinos in Primm. Affinity Gaming operates all three properties. The company owns Silver Sevens just east of the Las Vegas Strip. It also owns casinos in Iowa and Missouri.

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Primm has seen better days. Two of the hotels are closed. The other only has about half its rooms on the market. Two only have slots. Neither have electronic table games. Only one has live tables and ETGs. On this Tuesday night, Denny’s was the only restaurant open between the three casinos. Several other restaurants were closed and a couple looked like they had not opened in a long time. Unfortunately, the Primm website is unreliable about restaurant availability and hours.

Buffalo Bill’s

Buffalo Bill’s is now the flagship of Primm. After remaining closed until December 2022, it now has the only open hotel in Primm. Some rooms were remodeled before its relaunch. However, reviews on travel sites show that maintenance and cleanliness are major issues on the property. There were about 10 players during our Tuesday night visit around 7pm.

Buffalo Bill’s is the only Primm casino with table games. There are 13 blackjack tables. The minimum bet is $15. These tables pay 6/5. Table game supervisors may open 3/2 games with a $25 minimum bet upon request. The dealer hits soft 17. Surrender and re-split aces are not available.

There is a double zero roulette table with a $15 minimum bet. The dual wheel live dealer stadium double-zero roulette game has a $5 minimum. There are two Three Card Poker tables. The minimum bet is $10.

The live craps tables are gone. These were replaced by two Roll to Win Craps hybrid games. Real dice are used. There is one dealer. Bets are placed on screens. The minimum bet is $5. The maximum odds are 3-4-5 times and the field pays double on 12.

In addition to the stadium roulette, there is multiplayer electronic 6/5 blackjack and Big Six. Big Six has a $1 minimum. Blackjack has a $3 minimum and offers a large selection of side bets. Side bets include KK, QQ, JJ, 7s, A-2, Match, Pair, Poker 3, and 19+.

Video poker selection

The video poker at Buffalo Bill’s is atrocious at most limits. The bar has $0.25, $0.50, and $1 denominations. The four games are 6/5 Jacks or Better, 6/5 Double Double Bonus Poker, 10/8/5/3/1/1 Bonus Poker, and 10/8 Deuces Wild. The house advantage on all these games is around five percent. There are a few banks of machines with these games on the casino floor.

The best video poker games are on a bank of four near the restaurants in the back of the casino. These have $1, $2, and $5 denominations. The best $1 and $2 games are 9/5 Jacks or Better. The best $5 game is 8/5 Bonus Poker. There is a $5 9/5 Double Double Bonus Poker game with a royal flush progressive. It was just above $24,000 during our visit.

Primm Valley Resort

Primm Valley Resort did not appear to be open. There were no cars in the parking lot. The entrance was dark. We knew from our casino record run that it was open as it looked the same way. There were no players in the entire casino. It was deserted.

Primm Valley has the same video poker selection as Buffalo Bill’s. The $1, $2, and $5 machines are a few banks to the right as you walk in, close to the closed tram station. The $5 Double Double Bonus Poker progressive was close to its $20,000 reset. The bar had the same five percent games as the one at Buffalo Bill’s. Contrary to what the Primm website says, there were no live or electronic table games at Primm Valley Resort.

Whiskey Pete’s

Like Primm Valley, there are no live or electronic table games. The only video poker is at the bar. It has the same terrible games as the other two Primm bars. All machines on the casino floor are slots.

author avatar
John Mehaffey
John, a founding member of Advantage Media LLC, got his start in gaming as a prop player at online poker sites. He played online poker from 2001 to 2005. In 2004, he created a site that served as a directory for an online poker promotional method known as rakeback. He sold that site in 2006 and moved his family from Atlanta to Rapid City, SD to work for a similar company. They later moved to Las Vegas in 2010. John’s favorite game is full-pay video poker. His favorite table game is Ultimate Texas Hold’em, though he would rather play it in video form. Currently, John is best known for compiling blackjack and table game data including all Las Vegas and Clark County casinos.