Las Vegas auctions a pawnbroker license for nearly $2M

A pawnbroker licence sold for $1.9 cardinal Monday greeting astatine the metropolis of Las Vegas’ archetypal licence auction.

The seven-bidder auction wrong of the City Council chambers amounted to a two-man contention betwixt competing pawn companies, with SuperPawn winning the city’s 25th pawnbroker license.

SuperPawn’s winning bid concluded metropolis government’s archetypal pawnbroker licence auction since an ordinance adopted Feb. 5, 2020, changed however officials awarded the coveted licenses.

The starting bid was $60,000. The auctioneer pointed astatine Dave Vale of SuperPawn with his near hand, Roi Zalach of Gold & Beyond with his close and past Vale again with his right. Back and distant they went. If immoderate of the different 5 bidders raised their hands aboriginal successful the auction, it didn’t past long. Finally, Zalach conceded.

SuperPawn won the licence for $1.9 cardinal during an auction that lasted 3 minutes and 34 seconds.

Zalach walked implicit to Vale and shook his manus with a smile.

“When would you person stopped?” Zalach asked.

“When my brag told maine to,” Vale chuckled.

Zalach’s bounds was $2.2 million, helium told Vale.

“I don’t deliberation I would’ve stopped,” Vale replied.

The caller SuperPawn store would apt unfastened successful an underserved portion of the Las Vegas Valley, helium said aft the exchange. The company, which operates pawn shops successful aggregate locations successful the valley, indispensable inactive acquisition a vetting process and person licensing support from the Las Vegas City Council.

The ordinance applies lone to pawnbroker licenses, which are constricted based connected colonisation totals and were antecedently awarded done a lottery system. The adjacent licence volition go disposable erstwhile Las Vegas’ colonisation reaches 700,000 radical — the metropolis is presently astatine 670,000 people, metropolis spokesperson Jace Radke said.

City concern licensing manager Darcy Adelbai-Hurd said she didn’t expect the licence to merchantability for what it did. Radke attributed the uncertainty to the information Monday’s auction was the archetypal nether the ordinance, adding that the wealth would spell toward Las Vegas’ wide fund.

Contact Mike Shoro astatine mshoro@reviewjournal.com. Follow @mike_shoro connected Twitter.