As he walked through Reno’s Atlantis Casino & Resort on his way to a corporate meeting a few years ago, CEO John Farahi suddenly stopped to pick up a scrap of paper in front of a slot machine. He deposited it into a nearby trash can and resumed his pace toward the boardroom.

The action didn’t surprise Michael Bonner, the casino operator’s longtime outside legal counsel, who was walking with Farahi at the time. 

“That describes John. He pays astute attention to detail,” Bonner recounted.

Farahi, 77, has been the top executive of Monarch Casino & Resorts long before it was first listed on the NASDAQ National Market in 1993, a move that opened new financing avenues for the company.

In the decades since, the company has acquired just one other resort — Monarch Black Hawk, 40 miles east of Denver — and avoided taking on debt or a chief financial officer — a stark departure from other major gaming operators.

For those who work with Farahi, that approach is central to who he is.

“He is very hands-on. He’s incredibly detail-oriented and he’s very cost-conscious. John has an amazing work ethic,” Bonner said of the Iranian-born Farahi, whose family fled the country in the 1970s and settled in Reno, in part because the surrounding area resembled Tehran. Farahi, who is Jewish, makes annual historical excursions to Israel, bringing family, friends and acquaintances. 

Many of his employees have been with Atlantis for years. Bonner has worked for Farahi for more than three decades.

The company carries zero debt — highly unusual in the gaming industry, where multibillion-dollar debt is practically the norm. Numerous expansions and renovations at the Atlantis have been funded through the property’s cash flow, and while Monarch took on debt to expand its Black Hawk casino, Macquarie Securities gaming analyst Chad Beynon said the property performed “so exceptionally” that the debt was paid off quickly.

“[John] runs that business very tight. I wish other companies would operate like that,” Beynon said in an interview.

Monarch generated nearly $137 million in combined revenue from its two resorts during the three months ended in June, a 7 percent increase from the same period a year ago. Profits grew 19 percent. For the first six months of 2025, revenue is up 5 percent and profits are up 14 percent. Monarch does not break out its quarterly financial results by property, and neither Nevada nor Colorado provides the monthly financial results of individual casinos. 

However, the investment community views Monarch as financially sound because of its lack of debt. 

There are two longstanding questions among gaming observers about what's next for Reno-based Monarch. 

Will the company buy an existing casino or build a new property in another market? And will Farahi follow other regional casino operators and sell Monarch’s land to a real estate investment trust?

The answer to those two questions is “we’re looking” and a solid “no.”

“There are not that many markets available to enter,” Farahi said in a rare interview with The Nevada Independent. “Frankly, the industry has consolidated to a point that you don't have that many opportunities.”

Moving into Colorado

Atlantis has more than 800 rooms and suites in three hotel towers — recently renovated as part of a $100 million project — and a nearly 65,000-square-foot casino floor. Its location in South Reno is within walking distance of the Reno-Sparks Convention Center. 

Farahi said Atlantis is located “in an affluent area of South Reno that is safe and growing.” He would like to see additional development, including more walkable restaurants and retail areas to make it “more of a draw.”

“We don’t have that in Northern Nevada,” Farahi said. 

Farahi got his start in the hospitality industry in 1972, when his family bought the Golden Road Motel in Reno, the precursor to Atlantis. Farahi, along with his two brothers — Bob and Ben — worked in the business after school. Later, when they were attending college in the Bay Area, they returned to Reno to work at the hotel and the adjoining restaurant during their summer vacations.

Bob Farahi serves on Monarch’s board as a co-chairman with John. He also holds the title of president. Ben Fahahi stepped away from the company in 2006 to focus on other business opportunities.

“They are the model of the American dream,” Bonner said. 

In 2012, Monarch made its first-ever out-of-state expansion by acquiring the bankrupt Riviera Black Hawk, a 32,000 square-foot casino with 700 slot machines, 12 table games and a buffet. It did not have any hotel rooms.

Ten years and $442 million later, the totally renovated Monarch Casino Resort Spa Black Hawk has a casino that doubled in size, expanded its number of slot machines and table games, added a sportsbook and built a hotel tower that includes 516 rooms and suites, a rooftop pool and spa and 5,000 square feet of meeting space.

“We had been looking at Colorado for a long time,” Farahi said. “Denver is a very healthy economy with 3 million people within an hour's drive. If you want 3 million people in Reno, you have to go all the way to the Bay Area.”

‘Best balance sheet’

"Monarch has the best balance sheet in the [gaming] space,” Truist Securities gaming analyst Barry Jonas wrote in an email.

This is completely unlike most casino operators with large debt interest payments, including MGM Resorts International ($6.2 billion in total debt), Caesars Entertainment ($12.2 billion), and Red Rock Resorts ($3.4 billion).

The Farahi family controls roughly one-third of Monarch’s stock, which closed at $96.80 on the Nasdaq on Friday. The company's shares have jumped by more than 25 percent in the last 12 months, and share prices are up more than 144 percent over the last five years. According to statements filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission, Farahi earned almost $3.7 million between salary and other compensation last year, on the lower end compared to other gaming CEOs.

Jonas said he discusses the company’s growth prospects every three months in a phone call with Farahi, who avoids typical quarterly conference calls with multiple analysts and investment advisers.

“I think the bar is extremely high. I don’t think management evaluates opportunities in the context of just getting bigger,” Jonas said. “I think they look for regulatorily stable markets with real growth potential and minimal competitive risks. The fact that in their history they have only done one deal [for Black Hawk] should speak volumes.”

Beynon posed the same question about Monarch, writing in a research note last week that “investors continue to ask what's next?”

Farahi said Monarch will remain disciplined in looking at expansion opportunities. He said the company won’t enter a state and compete with tribal casino operators, whom he credited with managing solid gaming operations.

“We’re the No. 1 outdoor recreational area in the whole country, plus we have the jewel that is Lake Tahoe,” Farahi said. “But we’re not doing anything else in Northern Nevada. We are done here.”

Farhai was adamant about not selling the land associated with its properties to a real estate investment trust (REIT), which would in turn lease the operations back to the company. 

Management from Gaming and Leisure Properties and VICI Properties, the industry’s two largest gaming REITs, have expressed interest in Northern Nevada, as well as downtown Las Vegas and the Las Vegas locals markets. 

VICI owns the real estate for 10 major Strip resorts, including MGM Grand Las Vegas, Mandalay Bay, Caesars Palace and The Venetian, and two large convention complexes. Gaming and Leisure owns the 35-acre Strip that once housed the Tropicana. It is being developed as a location for Athletics’ $2 billion baseball and resort development built by Bally’s Corp.

“In the short term, you gain something when you sell to a REIT, but then what?” Farahi asked. “We will not sell our real estate. That’s not something we would want to do.”

Farahi also said he has zero interest in getting into online gaming, which is legal in seven states, including Nevada, which allows just online poker. He said the activity slices into traditional casino operations.

Reno roots and future

Since their original purchase, Farahi and his family have invested much into the Reno property, which became a Travelodge franchise in 1983 and became part of the Clarion Hotel Group eight years later.

The initial public offering financed a hotel tower and expansions, which eventually led to the resort taking on the name Atlantis in 1996. And that didn’t happen without a fight.

South African developer Sol Kerzner used the name for his resort in the Bahamas, but he didn’t own the rights, which belonged to a small hotel in South Carolina. Farahi acquired the naming rights and placed the “Atlantis” name on the renovated Reno resort. The legal fight was dropped when both companies decided not to bring the name to Las Vegas. There are now two unaffiliated Atlantis resorts.

“We still get calls here from people wanting to make a reservation at the Atlantis in the Bahamas,” Farahi said.

Farahi has watched Reno’s casino market shake up over the past few years. Harrah’s Reno closed when Eldorado Resorts acquired Caesars Entertainment in 2020 for $17.3 billion. The Sparks Nugget has twice changed hands and is now owned by Colorado-based Century Casinos. The standalone Legend’s Bay Casino opened in Sparks in 2022.

Businessman Alex Meruelo, who bought the Grand Sierra Resort in 2011, won approval in May from the Reno City Council for an estimated $68.1 million tax-increment financing plan that will help fund a new 10,000-seat multiuse arena, part of a $1 billion enhancement at the resort.

Other gaming operators, including Monarch, opposed the use of public money for the arena.

“We were not against the project. It’s a good project and it will add to the community,” Farahi said. “We didn’t want the government to subsidize it. The government should not be getting into business with private enterprise.”

In 2007, Farahi said Atlantis spent $12.5 million to build a 400-foot enclosed bridge that connected the resort with the Reno Sparks Convention Center’s North Hall.

“We paid every penny for that project,” Farahi said.