CARSON CITY – The Siena Hotel Spa & Casino, a landmark in downtown Reno, is facing the possible loss of the gaming license it has held for more than half a century.
The state Gaming Control Board has filed a complaint asking for emergency closure of the slot machines at the hotel-casino for failure to pay the gaming tax. As of June 4, the resort owed $89,902 to the state.
The state Gaming Commission meets Thursday to decide the issue.
The Siena, formerly called the Holiday Hotel, opened in December 1956 with only slot machines. Dwayne Kling, author of "The Rise of the Biggest Little City," called it "real first class."
Kling says it rivaled the Riverside, Mapes and Golden hotels, all major resorts in downtown Reno. All of them are now gone.
A year after the hotel opened, table games were installed.
The Siena has fallen on hard times along with other Nevada casinos during the economic downturn.
It faced closure earlier this month because of non-payment of $140,483 in back room taxes over a 12-month period. But a deal was negotiated with local officials to pay the back taxes at 18 percent interest and keep the hotel open. In December, a notice of default was filed by its lender, Bar-K Inc. of Lafayette, Calif.
The nine-story, 214-room hotel fell $400,705 behind on its power bill and was threatened with a shutdown of electricity from NV Energy. An agreement was worked out to pay $50,000 every other Friday beginning June 11 until the back bill was paid -- as ongoing bills are kept current.
The complaint by the control board says the Siena has had troubles since December in keeping the required casino bankroll available to pay off big winners. That problem multiplied when the state Department of Taxation seized $116,000 from the special bankroll account at the Siena to pay off back sales taxes in April.
That left the hotel-casino unable to meet the state gaming bankroll requirement.
Siena officials told the Gaming Control Board on several occasions they hoped to get a short-term loan of $250,000 to $300,000. The hotel did make a $15,000 payment for part of the back gaming taxes on April 24.
The complaint says payroll checks that were routinely cashed by employees at another casino weren't honored by Wells Fargo because the Siena didn’t have enough money in its bank account. The other casino was reimbursed from the casino case at the Siena.
The state Department of Taxation then removed $45,829 from the casino bank account for more overdue sales tax.
In April, the hotel agreed to remove 39 slot machines and four pit games to reduce the necessary state bankroll cash requirements. In June, the Siena closed all of its table games and now awaits its fate at the hands of the five-member gaming commission.
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