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Gambling in the rubble of a demolished Las Vegas casino: Shadows of a darker past, and hope for the future

Saturday, June 20, 2026 2:28 PM
Photo: Deidra Wilson/The Neon Museum
  • James Bartlett, SFGate

In early May, the doors reopened at the legendary Moulin Rouge Casino in Las Vegas. The temperature was perfect, around 80 degrees, and the music of the slot machines rang out for eight hours straight. But their siren call was ignored. Not a single person came to play.

That wasn’t an issue, at least as far as Debbie Cornine, director of regulatory compliance at Century Gaming Technologies, was concerned.

“The primary objective was achieved: The casino’s license was preserved for another two years,” Cornine says. “When it was originally issued, it carried unlimited gaming privileges, meaning there were no restrictions on the number of slot machines or table games permitted.”

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