Jackpot

Jackpot was founded by a decision made in Boise. In December 1953 the Idaho Supreme Court ruled slot machines illegal, and in 1954 the state shut down casino gaming altogether. Pete Piersanti, who had been running slots at his lodge in Island Park, packed them up and drove south on US-93 to a spot less than a mile inside the Nevada line, where he opened Cactus Pete's Desert Lodge. His friend Don French, another Idaho operator, opened the Horse Shu Club beside it. That year is the town's founding date, and almost every customer drove down from the state that had just sent the slot machines away.

Naming it took longer. The two clubs each wanted their own name, so in 1958 the Elko County commissioners settled the matter by calling the place Unincorporated Town Number One. Nobody liked that either, and on April 7, 1959, the commissioners renamed it Jackpot at the clubs' joint request; one former Horse Shu manager said later that the name was his idea, after Piersanti's dog. Piersanti sold out in 1971, and the company he founded grew, through later owners, into the Ameristar casino chain.

The town still faces north. Nevada runs on Pacific time, but Jackpot keeps Mountain time with Twin Falls, an unofficial observance the state highway department and the FAA both recognize, so a drive down from Idaho loses no hour.

Jackpot has casinos, motels, fuel and a golf course. It is about 45 miles south of Twin Falls and nearly 70 north of Wells, with little in between either way.