Opposition websites, attack signs and mirroring allegations that their fellow Republican opponent is not as conservative as they claim are at the center of an increasingly antagonistic primary race for an open Clark County Commission seat.

From lotteries to casinos, horse tracks to mobile sports betting, tribal bingo halls to prediction markets, most of America is awash in gambling as the nation approaches its 250th anniversary. But gambling was popular in America before there even WAS an America. Native Americans played games with sticks and dice, including a hide-the-stone-in-a-moccasin game that could be the precursor of the modern shell game. British settlers brought their country's love of gambling to the new world, betting on horse races, playing cards and dice games in taverns, and using lotteries to help finance public works projects, including the very establishment of some of the American colonies long before they declared independence in 1776.

The barricades are up at Whiskey Pete’s, and same goes for Buffalo Bill’s, albeit with colorful banners fastened to its roadblocks that declare: “The Party is at Primm Valley.” With three hotel-casino properties in this remote spot outside Las Vegas, Primm Valley Resort is the only one still open. But the party, or what’s left of it, is about to end.

Primm Valley Casino Resorts will close 624 hotel rooms when it shutters this summer

Primm Valley Casino Resorts will close 624 hotel rooms when it shutters this summer

Primm Valley Casino Resorts will close 624 hotel rooms when it shutters this summer