Mermaids owner calls Fremont Street Experience “a cartel”
Downtown Las Vegas casinos may be compelled to reduce their outdoor sales of alcoholic drinks if a small casino owner gets his way.
On one side of this fight is Steve Burnstine, owner of two casinos, Mermaids and La Bayou, and an adult entertainment venue, Girls of Glitter Gulch. On the other side are the Fremont Street Experience and its member casinos, the Golden Nugget, the Golden Gate, the D, the Four Queens, and Binion’s, all of which have outside bars on the mall.
Burnstine is upset because Jeff Victor, president of the Fremont Street Experience, denied him the right to set up a permanent bar in front of Mermaids and La Bayou, but let the owner of the Golden Gate erect a pop-up bar near Mermaids.
Officials with the Fremont Street Experience want the city to ban package goods sales at retail outlets. But they permit their members to build outdoor, pop-up and temporary bars, according to the Las Vegas Review-Journal.
Further complicating matters, a city ordinance maintains that casinos can only operate one outside bar, according to a recent interpretation by District Court Judge Elizabeth Gonzalez.
The Golden Gate and Golden Nugget each operate two outdoor bars, but they were in existence before the ordinance was established. City Attorney Brad Jerbic said he thought that “a bar” as stated in the ordinance did not mean “one bar,” but could mean several.
City Council member Ricki Barlow expressed confusion about the demands of the Experience. “Fremont Street Experience came to us and said, ‘We don’t want any additional liquor stores.’ But on the other hand, it’s okay for downtown properties to have multiple bars. Liquor is liquor. Whether you buy it in the store or you buy it in a glass, liquor is liquor. So to me, you can’t speak out of both sides of your mouth.”
Gonzalez has given the properties 10 days to consider an appeal before the ordinance is enforced.
In 1995, the city contracted with the Fremont Street Experience to manage and control the five-block mall. Burnstine has argued that the city cannot turn over management to a private operator, especially one that discriminates against non-members. In court papers, he called the Fremont Street Experience a “cartel.”
