Cactus Pete Piersanti

Peter Vincent "Cactus Pete" Piersanti (November 3, 1916 – February 15, 1994[1]) was an American hotel and casino promoter active in Idaho and Nevada from the 1940s to the 1980s.

While in Ogden in 1941, Piersanti purchased a local bar and grill with a card room and a pinball machine distribution company.

In response Piersanti moved his slot machine operation from Island Park to a site just south of the Idaho border on U.S. Route 93 in what was then considered a part of Contact, Nevada, in Elko County.

The opening of Piersanti's establishment, Cactus Pete's Motor Lodge, was instrumental in the founding of the town of Jackpot.

Originally a gas station with slot machines, by 1958, Cactus Pete's was so successful that a 15-room hotel and aircraft runway were built to accommodate the growing numbers of visitors, mainly from nearby Idaho.