Stateline Hotel and Casino was located in West Wendover

West Wendover, Nevada

West Wendover is a city in Elko County, Nevada, United States. The population was 4,721 at the 2000 census. It is part of the Elko Micropolitan Statistical Area. West Wendover is located on the eastern border of Nevada and the western edge of the Great Salt Lake Desert, and is contiguous with...

 straddling the Nevada

Nevada

Nevada is a state in the western, mountain west, and southwestern regions of the United States. With an area of and a population of about 2.7 million, it is the 7th-largest and 35th-most populous state. Over two-thirds of Nevada's people live in the Las Vegas metropolitan area, which contains its...

/Utah

Utah

Utah is a state in the Western United States. It was the 45th state to join the Union, on January 4, 1896. Approximately 80% of Utah's 2,763,885 people live along the Wasatch Front, centering on Salt Lake City. This leaves vast expanses of the state nearly uninhabited, making the population the...

 border.

History

The owner of Stateline Casino was William "Bill" Smith, who started his business in 1926 as a service station

Filling station

A filling station, also known as a fueling station, garage, gasbar , gas station , petrol bunk , petrol pump , petrol garage, petrol kiosk , petrol station "'servo"' in Australia or service station, is a facility which sells fuel and lubricants...

. In 1931 when gambling

Gambling

Gambling is the wagering of money or something of material value on an event with an uncertain outcome with the primary intent of winning additional money and/or material goods...

 was legalized in Nevada, Smith expanded his service station adding a hotel

Hotel

A hotel is an establishment that provides paid lodging on a short-term basis. The provision of basic accommodation, in times past, consisting only of a room with a bed, a cupboard, a small table and a washstand has largely been replaced by rooms with modern facilities, including en-suite bathrooms...

 and casino

Casino

In modern English, a casino is a facility which houses and accommodates certain types of gambling activities. Casinos are most commonly built near or combined with hotels, restaurants, retail shopping, cruise ships or other tourist attractions...

. The hotel and casino straddled the official border between Nevada and Utah. For a long time there was a white line across the floor. A patron could eat on the Utah side then step over the line and gamble in Nevada. It began business in 1931 when gambling became legal again in Nevada after being outlawed on October 1, 1910 at midnight.

It closed in 1982 and reopened in 1985. In 2002 it was sold and renamed the Stateline Nugget. In 2004 it was sold again and renamed Wendover Nugget Hotel and Casino. The Wendover Nugget Hotel and Casino then donated Wendover Will

Wendover Will

Wendover Will is a sign created for the Stateline Casino in West Wendover, Nevada in 1952. It is now a landmark for the town of West Wendover.-History:...

, the 63 foot neon cowboy sign that had stood in front of the hotel since 1952 to the city of West Wendover. The city restored it and erected it in the city center.