Blood & Biohazard Cleanup Near Downtown Jackpot Jackpot, NV

Jackpot is an unincorporated community and census-designated place (CDP) in Elko County, Nevada, less than one mile south of the Idaho border on U.S. Route 93, and it had a population of 855 at the 2020 census.

Jackpot was founded in 1954 after Idaho outlawed all forms of casino gaming, when 'Cactus Pete' Piersanti and Don French moved their slot machine operations from Idaho to the Jackpot townsite.

In May 1958 the settlement was first recognized by the Elko County commissioners as an unincorporated town named 'Horse Shu', with a population of 65, and after the club owners could not agree on a name it was renamed 'Unincorporated Town No. 1' a month later before the clubs compromised on 'Jackpot' in 1959.

By 1960 Jackpot's population had reached 400, but most residents were living in trailers because banks would not approve building loans, being unsure of the town's long-term prospects.

Cactus Pete's management took over the Horseshu in 1964 to form what would eventually become Ameristar Casinos, and Jackpot's economy rests on its casinos, including Cactus Pete's, whose hotel is the largest in town with 300 guest rooms, the Horseshu, Barton's Club 93, and the Four Jacks.

Jackpot observes Mountain Time, along with other Idaho border towns such as Jarbidge, Mountain City, and Owyhee, because of its economic ties with the Magic Valley region of southern Idaho, and the Nevada Department of Transportation and the Federal Aviation Administration recognize this local unofficial observance.

Jackpot covers 3.94 square miles, of which 3.90 square miles is land, and sits at an elevation of about 5,200 feet near Salmon Falls Creek and north of Middle Stack Mountain in the Granite Range.

Jackpot is 47 miles south of Twin Falls, Idaho, and although it is officially part of the Elko micropolitan area, it is often considered part of the Greater Twin Falls region.

Jackpot was counted as having 1,195 residents in the 2010 census and 855 in the 2020 census.

At the 2010 census, Jackpot had 451 households with an average household size of 2.65, and 622 housing units, of which 28 percent were vacant.