SlotWorld in Carson City set to reopen this week

Slot World Casino was buzzing last week in preparation for its planned reopening Tuesday.

A huge construction crew filled the 24,000 square foot building, finishing a new bar in the middle of the casino floor, adding a customer service desk and sports book behind it, and installing new slot machines throughout.

“Everything you see is brand new,” said Bill Henderson, director of sales at Carson Valley Inn, another property owned by Slot World’s new owner, Mike Pegram. “This is not lipstick on a pig.”

Pegram bought the Highway 50 building in June and closed it in October to renovate. Commercial Construction Consulting Inc., in Reno is the general contractor on the project.

The building was gutted and nearly everything replaced, including the heating and ventilation system and all of the kitchen’s equipment.

Betsy’s Big Kitchen closed two weeks before the casino and was already finished with more than a dozen workers inside getting trained.

The restaurant, which will be open from 7 a.m. to 10 p.m. seven days a week, seats 136 and now boasts large windows and panoramic views. Murals of postcards from Carson City cover its walls.

Postcard murals cover part of the building exterior, too, which has been painted bright red and yellow. A new sign with a redesigned logo for the corner of Fairview Drive and U.S. 50 is on its way, said Henderson.

Inside a large bar filled with bar slots divides the casino floor in half. The casino kept the more popular slots, said Henderson, and added a 100 more for a total of 320 slot machines. Three dozen televisions line the walls.

The casino retained as many workers as wanted to stay on, he said, and in late October held a job fair where it hired the rest. All told, the new Slot World will employ 90 people.