Sometime this fall, The Mint Bar is slated to open. The site was once home to the Reno National Bank, which opened in 1915, and later became a Planet Hollywood and a part of Harrah’s. In 2013, Planet Hollywood changed into an Ichiban Japanese Steak House, rounding out 100 years on the corner of Virginia and Second streets in downtown Reno.
The Mint will have a bar, giant screen, and slot machines. The number of slot machines is being kept vague. The project was awarded a Nevada gaming license and received city approval for slots in 2023. The license is under the general category of “unlimited” and articles in the Reno Gazette Journal put the number of slots at 200. The operator, Fine Entertainment, has focused on its entertainment components, downplaying the gaming. But as every bar and restaurant operator in Nevada knows, slot machines can pay the rent.
The Mint is part of a master development with residential, restaurants, and retail elements and includes all the buildings that constituted Harrah’s Casino-Hotel. The project has been broken into pieces, each to be partially financed and developed by separate entities. Fine Entertainment has the first floor of the former casino. In a sense, the Mint represents the end of one era and the start of a new one downtown…