Maverick repurchasing rural Nevada properties from a bankrupt Texas-based holding company

The CEO of Maverick Gaming said Wednesday the company's repurchase of two casinos in Elko should close in three weeks while a holding company that currently owns the properties works its way through a Chapter 11 bankruptcy reorganization.

In an interview with The Nevada Independent, Eric Persson said a similar process will take place with two casinos in Wendover.

RunItOneTime LLC, a Texas-based holding company that Persson and his partners formed a decade ago, owned Maverick's casinos in Nevada and Colorado, and cardroom casinos in Washington. The company filed for bankruptcy last year. Persson said the confusion about which company was filing for bankruptcy came because Maverick Gaming was listed in the paperwork and was considered an owner of the company.

He said RunItOneTime had to file Worker Adjustment and Retraining Notification (WARN) Act letters in Nevada last week because it plans to close the Gold County Inn and the Maverick Casino Hotel in Elko on Nov. 30, laying off 239 workers, and immediately transfer the operations to Maverick, which Persson owns outright. 

"There will be no disruption and all the employees will be rehired," Persson said.

He said a similar process will take place covering the company's other three properties —  the nongaming High Desert Inn in Elko, and the Wendover Hotel & Casino and Red Garter Hotel & Casino in West Wendover.  

Persson disputed the characterization that his current company is in bankruptcy. He said he agreed in July 2025 to transfer assets to his lenders, who then filed for bankruptcy through a separate company.

As part of that transition, Persson said, he bought back the Maverick Gaming name. He described the current Maverick Gaming business as separate from the company involved in the bankruptcy proceeding.

"Maverick Gaming is not a party to the bankruptcy," he said. "We're a separate company."

The letters stated the closures could be avoided if casinos are transferred to a new operator. Persson, who moved the privately held company's headquarters to Kirkland, Washington, in 2022 to focus on its cardroom casinos in the state, said a same process is happening with the cardrooms

In the July 2025 Chapter 11 bankruptcy filing, which named Maverick, RunItOneTime listed between $100 million and $500 million in liabilities.

WARN letters are filed with the Nevada Department of Employment, Training and Rehabilitation (DETR) and required under federal law to give workers 60 days notice of a workplace closing.

Gaming Control Board Chairman Mike Dreitzer said in a text message Wednesday the agency is "very involved" in the matter and has "extensively" been in contact with Persson.

Earlier this year, the control board was involved with keeping the Primm properties at the California-Nevada border open, facilitating a transfer of the operations from Affinity Gaming to Terrible's Gaming.

In both WARN letters, signed by Human Resources Director Leticia Flores, Elko employees were told that a "potential change of operator and/or owner" could take place and closure may not occur or "alternatively, the closure could be delayed."

She wrote the company is subject to bankruptcy court proceedings.

Prior to the bankruptcy filing, RunItOneTime operated nearly two dozen licensed cardrooms in Washington primarily surrounding the Seattle area. The cardrooms are limited to 15 table games — baccarat, poker and variations of blackjack.  

In June, RunItOneTime announced it was closing two of its casinos, laying off 132 employees. The company announced last month it planned to close eight additional properties, laying off more than 800 workers. But Persson said this week he would buy back the small casinos and the employees would be rehired.

Updated at 1:10 pm on 10/7/2026 to include updated information.