CRYSTAL BAY, Nev. – As Roger and Elise Norman left Cal Neva Resort after a concert in 2002, they drove past the Crystal Bay Casino, which was closed, with lights off, with huge snowbanks against the building.
“There was a little tiny sign that said, for sale, with a phone number,” Roger Norman said. “I said, hey, write that number down. So, she did.”
The next day, Norman called and learned the property was due to go to a bankruptcy sale.
The real estate development and construction executive thoroughly checked out the more than four-acre property in disrepair.
“We ended up bidding on it in the courtroom,” Norman said. “I think we bid up to $2.8 million. And we got it for that.”
The following eight months were spent removing about 150,000 square feet of asbestos.
“That had to be removed,” Norman said. “We wanted to remove it. They (Washoe County officials) said we didn’t have to. But I wanted to, I wanted to remove all the hazardous stuff from the building so that we would never have to deal with it in the future, ever.”
The Normans redid the entire parking garage and casino including the electrical, gas, water, and plumbing.
In addition, they added a special air conditioning and ventilation system that pumps 90% fresh air into the casino every six minutes.
“We had to redo the whole inside of the building,” said Elise Norman who spearheaded the interior design. “I tried to pick materials that would be timeless, like marbles and granites and stone and things that reminded me of Tahoe. We put two beautiful trees right in the middle of the pit that we had custom-made for the center of the casino to bring the outdoors in.”
Elise Norman said the goal was to make the interior classic so they wouldn’t have to redo it.
“It stood the test of time because all we’ve done is recarpet and put in new slot machines as they come around,” Elise Norman said.
In addition to the ambiance, the Crystal Bay Casino was brought up to modern technical standards.
“At the moment that we finished it, we had the most sophisticated casino in the world,” Roger Norman said. “It was the first casino to be 100% coinless, the first casino to have 100% hard drives and no tapes for holding all of the surveillance footage.”
Nothing was kept from the old casino.
“We were the first to have the cards that could be your player’s card as well as a card for opening whichever doors we wanted to allow someone to open in the casino,” Norman said. “They also opened the hotel rooms” at the 11-room Border House.
It is a registered historical landmark.
“The Border House is kind of a pride and joy,” said Food and Beverage Manager Duane Jakob, who is also the hotel manager and manager on duty. ”It has the mountain feel, kind of the Lake Tahoe feel.”
Norman recalled the casino had a lot of sophisticated games.
“We had over 100% payback on the slot machines,” Norman said. “And we were the only ones at Tahoe that were doing that.”
Norman said Crystal Bay Casino was “always on the cutting edge of having the best machines and the best odds on blackjack and all of that.”
Norman said when they opened, the casino had 12 table games, a lot of Blackjack, Craps, Roulette, and a couple of other games, too. There were also 236 slot machines.
Norman didn’t directly answer if the Crystal Bay Casino had been a profitable investment.
“It’s not like real estate, but it has been an exciting adventure for us,” said Norman. “… It was a great experience. Yeah, it was a lot of work, a lot of blood, sweat, and tears.”
After the casino opened, the Normans worked onsite side-by-side with their staff for the first three years.
“There was just a lot of care and thought … to make sure that our place was the most fun place to go to on the North Shore,” Norman said. “We always had live entertainment and great things going on.”
The Normans made a lot of changes to the original venue.
Before the Normans, the Crown Room was a bowling alley and a dance hall. Then they made it a restaurant, which wasn’t profitable.
“What we’re going to do is we’re going to close it and we’re going to order food for delivery for free to anyone in the casino that wants to eat,” Norman said. “They can order from all the restaurants at North Shore. And of course, all the other restaurant owners absolutely loved that … The customers loved it, too. And we actually saved money.”
They offered this for a year.
In 2003, Beach Boys’ Mike Love asked for a tour of the casino before his son’s concert in the intimate Red Room.
“We walked into the Crown Room … And he said, you know what? This would be an absolutely amazing spot for a concert venue to put the stage down here at this end and put a bar down at the other end,” Norman recalled Love saying.
The Normans quickly remodeled the Crown Room into its second music venue that can hold 750 people.
“All of a sudden we had a great spot for everyone to come and see concerts,” Norman said. “We had state-of-the-art lighting and state-of-the-art (Meyers Sound system) sound” mixed by Bill Gamble.
The Crown Room became known as the “epicenter of Lake Tahoe entertainment.”
In December 2004, legendary blues rocker Edgar Winter performed the first Crown Room concert.
“All the artists … loved it because Bill Wood (the general manager for 18 years) had a passion for music,” Norman said. “Wood would really make sure that … everything they needed was perfect and that they were having a good time while they were up at Crystal Bay performing.”
In 2022 Wood retired, and longtime employee Eric Roe became the general manager in charge of the 96 employees.
During a tour of the venue, Roe said the casino hosts 70 shows a year including local bands and national touring acts, some on their way to Red Rocks Park and Amphitheatre in Colorado.
“Our crowd is very energetic and loyal and just loves this venue as much as we do,” Roe said. “Which in turn makes the experience for the bands that much better. The acoustics in that room are just amazing. So, we get bands that generally wouldn’t play here.”
During Roe’s tenure, the casino opened the CBC Backstage.
The exclusive VIP lounge offers 50 early entry concert tickets, including appetizers, a private no-host bar with seating, and excellent viewing of the Crown Room Livestream. It is usually a $15 to $20 add-on to the concert ticket.
The casino also uses CBC Backstage for private parties.
In 2023, the Crystal Bay Casino started the Gambler’s Run Music Festival.
“Gambler’s Run was kind of our way to give back to our guests,” Roe said. “… We’ve always wanted a way to do an outdoor show. That’s what people come to town for to be outside in nature. So that was our way to incorporate an outdoor venue to a property that doesn’t generally have an outdoor venue.”
In July 2024, the 2nd Annual Gambler’s Run Music Festival doubled its attendance to about 600 people a day for the three-day event, Roe said.
“We had 18 bands that played both outside on our 72 Mile Spirits stage (a small batch distillery), and inside on our Travel North Tahoe stage,” Roe said.
Travel North Tahoe was the main sponsor.
For the festival, the casino partnered with Sierra Nevada Alliance, Tahoe Environmental Research Center – UC Davis, Take Care Tahoe, Keep Tahoe Blue, Drink Tahoe Tap, League to Save Lake Tahoe, Tahoe Rim Trail, and Tahoe Water Suppliers Association to make it a plastic-free, sustainable, and environmentally conscious event.
“We also initiated our single-use plastic-free initiative at that festival,” Roe said. “We are no longer using single-use plastics.”
Back on the casino floor, Roe pointed out Dragon Link, Lightning Link, Wheel of Fortune, and Megabucks.
It also offers the newest slot machines, weekly free play, 183 gaming machines, a 24/7 player’s club, continuous slot promotions, and a William Hill Sportsbook.
In addition, there are six Blackjack tables, a Craps table, and a Roulette table.
“We also have new technology. A Craps machine, where there are physical dice and a physical dealer on the table, but everybody is betting on a terminal similar to a slot machine,” Roe said. “It’s very new cutting-edge technology. That’s something that the Crystal Bay Casino has always strived to be, a first to market on things like this.”
People are buying into it because it’s a unique and exciting experience, Roe explained. It is also less intimidating for a person learning the game.
“It’s kind of a nice mix between technology and you still have that human touch where you have a dealer who is there to explain it,” Roe said. “You still have physical dice that you’re rolling. He’s calling the number like you would on a regular prep game. So, it’s a nice mix of modern technology and a traditional type of game.”
Another innovative, hybrid game Roe explained is Roulette
“Again, a little less intimidating than going to a live table where you have chips flying everywhere,” Roe said. “Here, it’s very simple. You’re only saying your bets. If you wanted to bet a 7, you drag your $2 chip to a 7, or a $25 chip to a 7, or whatever it may be that you’re playing. There’s a physical wheel involved.”
It’s not a random number generator that decides if you win or lose. It’s the same odds as if you were to sit at a live table.
It’s a double zero Roulette, just like a live game, Roe said.
“They’re different than the regular ones because they’re fixed,” Roe said. It’s a hybrid electronic table game, live game,” Roe said of the two games. “This doesn’t have a physical dealer where this one does. But the same game, same odds, same payouts as a live game.”
Roe said the Crystal Bay Casino offers a personable experience.
“There’s a lot of folks that we know,” Roe said of the casino’s clientele which is an even mix of locals and tourists. “We know their names when they walk in, and they know all of our names when they walk in. Sometimes they come in to say hi.”
Inside the Crystal Bay Casino is the Steak and Lobster House restaurant. The intimate fine-dining restaurant has an adjacent 12-seat bar.
Executive Chef Travis Kroell puts a spin on the traditional menu.
“The lamb lollipops are amazing,” Roe said. “The quality of our meat is incredible.”
Roe’s regular order is the lamb lollipop appetizer, Caesar salad, and the filet.
From the bar, Roe’s “absolute favorite” is the smoked Sazerac while the Normans recommend the margaritas with Score Baja 1000 tequila.
“There’s a very extensive wine list as well,” Roe said. “We have bottles from $50 to $5,000.”
The Crystal Bay Casino’s Steak and Lobster House won the OpenTable 2024 Diners’ Choice Award.
“We want to take a moment to thank you for your generous ratings!” a posting on the casino’s Instagram said. “Our Steak and Lobster House is extremely grateful for this award, and we will continue to strive for success!”
The casino also won the Best of North Lake Tahoe and Truckee 2024 for best casino. It has retained that title every year since 2008.
The Crystal Bay Casino was also voted the best live indoor music/entertainment venue and got third place for best night scene.
“Thank you, Crystal Bay Club Casino supporters!” the casino posted on X.
