Carson Nugget president selling share to V.P. Neighbors

The Carson Nugget could be under full ownership of the casino's vice president, Steve G. Neighbors, pending approval of the state Gaming Commission after president Alan Adams agreed to sell his 50 percent stake in the property last month.

Neighbors, who is the sole trustee of the L.A. Adams and Mae B. Adams1990 Trust, would have 100 percent control of the property with Alan Adam's share and the remaining 26 percent from Betty Jean Adams' estate, which also is transferring its share to Neighbors' control, according to the Gaming Commission.

Neighbors said the private deal between himself and the Adams family closed Dec. 31. He declined to disclose the value of the transaction. A Gaming Commission representative said the deal could be reviewed as early as next month.

Alan Adams was unavailable for comment Wednesday. Neighbors said he is in Hawaii.

Neighbors said Mae Adams, who died in October at the age of 97, instructed him to move foward with the deal, which he said would expedite plans for an estimated $87 million city redevelopment project on the Nugget's property.

L.A. "Hop" Adams and his wife Mae Adams lived in Idaho until their deaths. Their daughter, Betty Jean Adams, also is deceased.

Hop Adams and his brother Howard Adams, Alan Adams' father, opened the Nugget in 1957.

It started in an 80-by-40 foot structure and eventually beacame the capital's largest casino.