Back to business
The Main Street Station hotel-casino in downtown Las Vegas has opened for the first time since March 2020. This property reopened its doors on Wednesday at 6am after staying closed since the pandemic-enforced closures. No special events are planned for the soft reopening. Boyd Gaming’s Eastside Cannery hotel-casino in Nevada remains closed, but all three of the company’s downtown Las Vegas properties are now open for business.
demand levels would determine the reopening timeline
Main Street Station will operate around the clock, but there will be limited hours for its two restaurants. Boyd Gaming executives had previously stated that demand levels would determine the reopening timeline for both the Main Street Station and the Eastside Cannery properties. Last month, company spokesperson David Strow said that the demand for the company’s two other downtown Las Vegas properties was strong.
There are still no indications as to when the Eastside Cannery will reopen, though. The company’s other casino on Boulder Highway, Sam’s Town, has been performing strongly, but it does not appear that demand levels are yet at a sufficient point to justify reopening the Eastside Cannery.
Other casinos remain shut
Despite the reopening of Main Street Station, numerous Station Casinos properties in Southern Nevada are still not open for business. The company does not have any plans to reopen the Texas Station, Fiesta Rancho, or Fiesta Henderson properties this year. Station Casinos parent company Red Rock Resorts CEO Frank Fertitta III spoke in a July earnings call about the reopening of these properties. He said that they would only go back to business “if and when we think they can add to the absolute profitability of the company going forward.”
The Palms also remains closed as Red Rock Resorts is in the middle of selling it to the San Manuel Band of Mission Indians.
Fiesta Rancho and Texas Station renewed their non-operational status through June 4, 2022. Fiesta Henderson also has permission to stay at non-operational status until the end of 2021. Numerous other casinos in the region also remain closed, while a couple of Northern Nevada properties closed permanently last year. The COVID-19 pandemic caused a lot of struggles for casinos all across the state, with some being able to ride out these struggles better than others.
Virus concerns remain
While visitor numbers to Nevada and gaming revenue figures have been improving in recent months, there are concerns about increasing COVID-19 case numbers. By the end of this week, all of Nevada’s 17 counties will have to adhere to an indoor mask mandate. Health officials announced this measure on Wednesday.
Some establishments and events are also requiring people to be fully vaccinated in order to gain entry. The president of a school board in the Las Vegas area said that she has gotten death threats after the district required employees to be vaccinated. The state ran a vaccination incentive lottery, with a Las Vegas man winning the $1m jackpot.