Eric Persson Says He Will Buy Back Maverick's Two Elko Casinos to Keep 239 Nevada Jobs

Ten days after closure notices gave the Maverick Casino Hotel and the Gold Country Inn until 30 November, Maverick's co-founder says he is buying both back and will rehire every worker. No price, buyer entity or court filing for the deal has been made public, and Nevada's regulator says only that it is "very involved".

• Eric Persson, co-founder of Maverick Gaming, told the Las Vegas Review-Journal on 8 October that he is acquiring the Maverick Casino Hotel and the Gold Country Inn and Casino in Elko, and that he expects the deal to complete within three weeks
• Maverick NV LLC had told Nevada's employment department that it planned to close both casinos on 30 November, with 239 jobs at risk; Persson says the 198 and 41 staff will be let go by the old company and rehired by the new one
• The price, the buying entity and who will own the buildings have not been disclosed, and the bankruptcy docket through 7 October shows no motion to sell the Elko properties
• Nevada Gaming Control Board Chairman Mike Dreitzer told The Nevada Independent the agency is "very involved" and has been in contact with Persson "extensively", but no licensing item for the casinos has appeared on a Board or Commission agenda
• It is the approach Persson announced on 6 October for eight Washington card rooms, and he says the same process will follow for Maverick's two West Wendover casinos and the non-gaming High Desert Inn in Elko

The Founder Steps In Before the 30 November Deadline

Persson, the Las Vegas professional poker player who co-founded Maverick Gaming, said in an email to the Review-Journal that he is in the process of acquiring the Maverick Casino Hotel and the Gold Country Inn and Casino, which face each other on Idaho Street in Elko. Terms were not disclosed. He expects the transaction to complete within three weeks, and told The Nevada Independent a day earlier that operations would pass to Maverick, which he owns outright. "There will be no disruption and all the employees will be rehired," he said.

The deal is unusual, he told the Review-Journal, because he is buying back his own name and brand from lenders. "I signed a transition service agreement with my lenders and basically am getting all the assets back," he said. Persson says he agreed in July 2025 to transfer assets to his lenders, who then filed through a separate company. "Maverick Gaming is not a party to the bankruptcy," he told The Nevada Independent.

The casinos are run by Maverick NV LLC, a debtor in the Chapter 11 case of RunItOneTime LLC, the former Maverick Gaming, before Judge Alfredo R. Pérez in the Southern District of Texas (Case No. 25-90191). On 23 March the court authorised a consulting agreement with RRC Gaming Management, LLC and allowed the "Supporting Shareholder" to replace Anthony Marnell III with former Caesars Entertainment chief executive Tony Rodio as manager of the licensed operator affiliates, according to the docket. RRC, under Rodio, manages the Elko casinos, according to the Review-Journal.

What Has Not Been Disclosed

The case docket, kept by claims agent Kroll, runs to 7 October and contains no motion concerning the Elko properties. The most recent sale motion, filed on 30 September, covers two Tukwila card rooms in Washington, and it matters because Elko sits under the same lease. In October 2022 the company sold the two Elko casinos, an Elko gas station and a Tukwila card room to Blue Owl for $47.3 million and leased them back, according to a debtors' motion filed in December 2025. The leased properties drew no bids in the bankruptcy, and the court-approved settlement set up a process to hand each one to a replacement operator or reject it.

In the Tukwila motion, the debtors sell only their personal property and reject the lease for those sites, while the buyer, TIL Gaming LLC, acquires the real estate directly from Blue Owl, whose rent concessions end on 1 December, according to a summary of the motion published by Bondoro. Persson has not said whether he is buying the Elko buildings or taking a new lease.

The Control Board's 7 October agenda has no item involving Maverick or the Elko casinos, and we found none in Board or Nevada Gaming Commission agendas and dispositions published since 2024. The Commission next meets on 22 October and the Board on 4 and 5 November. Whether Persson's current company holds a Nevada gaming licence has not been stated.

The Licence, Not the Price, Sets the Timetable

Three weeks from 8 October falls before the Board's next regular meeting, so closing on Persson's timetable would need an existing licence that covers the new operator or a special hearing. Nevada held one this year: when Affinity Gaming's Primm casinos changed hands, the Board met in special session and the Commission approved licences for three Stateline companies on 25 June, conditioned on Board approval of a signed master lease before gaming began and limited to a year, according to the published dispositions. Dreitzer's comment suggests the regulator wants Elko to stay open, but Primm shows that speed came with conditions and a public hearing. The deadline that counts is 30 November, not the end of October.

Blue Owl Holds the Other Key

If Elko follows the Tukwila template, the estate sells only what it owns inside the buildings and the real terms sit in a private agreement with Blue Owl, so the price filed in court may say little about the deal. That matters to creditors. Persson was treated as an insider when his company bought four Washington card rooms from the estate in 2025, and a sale back to the former chief executive and majority shareholder will draw the same scrutiny once a motion is filed.

Persson's announcement makes it more likely that Elko's 239 jobs survive 30 November. Until a sale filing, a lease and a licence are public, it is an intention announced through the press rather than a transaction.