The Prospector Hotel & Gambling Hall in Ely, a town of 4,000 in eastern Nevada, is on track to be taken over by new ownership headed by members of the Marnell family.

The Nevada Gaming Commission will meet Sept. 26 to approve the gaming license and related approvals to AM3 2012 Trust, with Anthony Marnell III and Matthew Woodhead as trustees and with minority shareholders.

Marnell, the founder and CEO of Marnell Gaming that developed the M Resort in Henderson, is chairman and CEO of Marnell Companies.

The Nevada Gaming Control Board recommended the takeover request to the Commission.

Gaming attorney Michael Alanso represented Marnell at the meeting. He told the Board that in late 2023, the trust entered into a transaction to purchase the Prospector under a newly formed entity Terzetto LLC. The deal also includes 12 acres. The purchase price was not disclosed.

Marnell said the transaction came to him originally in 2019 before the pandemic and he thought it fit with what the Marnell entities were doing in gaming, having just left the Laughlin market.

“I’m not usually looking for properties this small, but I thought this property was unique,” Marnell said. “It’s been heavily invested in and kept in phenomenal condition. It has the luxury of having the Holiday Inn next to it. I thought that over time in Ely, there could be growth from mining.”

Marnell said he’s made his career on buying rundown assets, fixing them up, and taking them back to market. He wouldn’t have to do that with the Ely property.

“If anything, I saw expansion ideas with it as it grew,” Marnell said. “Nothing crazy, but well within our capabilities, living a life of very low leverage post-2009, if any leverage at all.”

In 2020, the owners decided not to sell, but reconsidered last year, Marnell said. His son, Rex, will serve as vice president of operations.

The Prospector has 60 hotel rooms, 138 slot machines, a sports-betting kiosk, a Mexican restaurant that will remain, and one bar with 12 seats. Rex Marnell said there are no plans for table games. “It’s been tried up there before, but it didn’t work.

“We’re evaluating plans for future expansion that would include 60 to 90 additional hotel rooms, 20 to 30 additional slot machines, and expansion of the bar,” Rex Marnell said.

The property currently has 27 full-time and 11 part-time employees. All will be retained, with health benefits and a bonus plan.

There’s no timeline on the expansion.

Board Chair Kirk Hendrick said they’re happy to see investment in the least populated counties and when employees are retained and offered more benefits.

Marnell Gaming sold the Edgewater Casino and Colorado Belle in Laughlin to Golden Entertainment in 2019, then served on Golden’s board of directors until earlier this year.

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