Management of the Silver Club Casino in Sparks told employees Friday morning that the business will shut its doors at the end of business on Jan. 10, 2009.

The business’ survival hung in the balance of a potential sale, which fell through late Wednesday, according to general manager David Mustard.

“The reason the potential sale fell out is because the credit markets are effectively closed, particularly for the gaming industry,” Mustard said.

Mustard could not disclose the name of the potential buyer or the potential purchase price.

The Silver Club’s human resources department is working to help the casino’s roughly 200 employees find new jobs, Mustard said. He described the mood there as “sad.”

“It’s not a good time to be in the casino business in Reno, Nevada,” Mustard said.

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Employee, customer reactions

For cocktail server Shastina Corral, losing the Silver Club is like losing her childhood home.

“I’ve grown up with this place since I was a little girl,” Corral said. “All these people watched me grow. I’ve been the baby here.”

Corral is one of more than 200 Silver Club employees who will lose their jobs on Jan. 10 when the hotel and casino close. When that happens, the city will lose one of its most visible gaming businesses but the employees will lose their livelihoods and an important piece of their lives.

Since 1995, Corral has worked at the Silver Club, serving drinks to a base of loyal customers sinc 1999. Many of the beverages she has carried on her tray were poured by her own mother, Lori Ross, who has tended bar there for 17 years. When she came to work Friday around noon, Corral learned from her mom that the management had announced the closure. An hour or so later, she was still reeling.

“It’s sad,” Corral said, putting down her tray for a minute to ponder the situation. “I’m very overwhelmed. It’s a lot to take in.”

Corral, a single mom with a 13-year-old daughter, said she hasn’t even begun to figure out what she’ll do next.

She isn’t alone in this dilemma.

Shihhsuan Cheng, an immigrant from Taiwan who wears a perpetual smile, has lived in the United States for 25 years and worked at the Silver Club for 24 as a casino floor attendant. He said he was shocked to learn of the closure and just shrugged when asked what he though he’d do next.

“Maybe I’ll take a while to rest,” he said. “In my whole life this is the first time this has happened to me.”

Compared to Corral, Ross and Cheng, Player’s Club hostess Jill Baygents is a short-timer. She started at the Silver Club eight months ago, though she said she has gambled there for much longer. She moved to the area from Arkansas 18 years ago, and when she needed a job she found the Silver Club had the friendly atmosphere she desired in an employer.

“Everybody is pretty upbeat,” Baygents said of the mood Friday. “They’re not really sad, just holding on.”

There were a few tears being shed among employees, but behind the bar Ross wore a smile as she pondered her future.

“Take it one day at a time, that’s all you can do,” she said. “I might run for office.”

The comment drew a laugh and possibly a few campaign voluteers from the half dozen people sitting at her bar. Retired school district employee Marty Tote puffed on a cigarette and sipped a beer as she played video poker Friday afternoon. She has been coming to the Silver Club — a “friendly place” as she calls it — for 20 years and has lived in northern Nevada since 1954.

“I think I’ll just have to stay home,” Tote said of what she’ll do after the casino closes on Jan. 10. “I don’t like the big casinos.”