On July 17, 2024, The Mirage closed on the Las Vegas Strip after 34 years in operation. It’s not the first major casino in the Las Vegas strip in the years following the COVID shutdowns.
But can you predict which casino might close next?
Key Highlights
- Mirage Casino closed its doors after operating for 34 years.
- Multiple Las Vegas Strip casinos have shut down in the years since COVID.
- A Boulder Highway casino could be the next one to close.
- Our Editor-in-Chief visits the casino on life support.
Other Vegas Casinos That Closed Since COVID
Predicting that a casino is the next one to close is impossible and potentially irresponsible. Throwing out names only hurts the casino and its employees. However, one casino is currently on life support and could be reaching its end.
After operating for 34 years, the Mirage is no more.
The property will undergo a three-year renovation. A 700-foot guitar-shaped hotel will replace the volcano show, while the existing tower will remain and be remodeled.
The Mirage followed the closure of Tropicana further south on the Las Vegas Strip. Tropicana closed in April 2024 after 67 years in operation.
The COVID closure in 2020 may have been a tell. Mirage was the last of the Las Vegas MGM Resorts casinos to reopen.
It was later sold to Hard Rock. Tropicana was the second-to-last Las Vegas Strip casino to reopen, and Cromwell, the smallest Caesars Entertainment property in Las Vegas, was the last.
The Mirage Will Become Guitar-Shaped Hard Rock Hotel
Mirage, under Hard Rock’s ownership, saw several changes before its closure. The high-limit double-deck blackjack game started hitting Soft 17 and stopped allowing pairs to be hit more than once. Some bar video poker paytables were downgraded.
The 99% $1 video poker machines disappeared from the floor. Some table games were moved into the sportsbook and former poker room space. These changes may be a glimpse into the direction Hard Rock goes when it reopens in 2027.
A Casino on Life Support
As I said, trying to guess which casino in the Las Vegas market closes next is futile. Mentioning random names can hurt casinos and industry workers. Just because Excalibur opened a year after Mirage does not mean it is on the chopping block.
If that were the case, one might argue that it closes next year, New York-New York will shutter in seven years, and Bellagio will close in eight years, based just on age, which seems absurd.
The Mirage circumstance is unusual due to its independent ownership. Las Vegas casinos tend to last much longer than 34 years. For example, Tropicana opened 67 years ago, and Riviera closed just after its 60th anniversary.
Substantial Decline
However, a Boyd Gaming casino on Boulder Highway is on life support. Its business levels have declined substantially since COVID-19. A nearby master-planned community wants to move its gaming license into its development.
Trying to guess which casino in the Las Vegas market closes next is futile.
John Mehaffey
Throwing out names only hurts the casino and its employees
Plans Call for Closing Jokers Wild
Jokers Wild is that property. Plans call for Jokers Wild’s demolition and construction of a modern casino with 1,200 slots and 12 table games on the corner of Warm Springs and Boulder Highway.1 However, the timeline seems to keep changing. In the interim, Jokers Wild limps along.
Jokers Wild was known for live $1 craps. It also had $2 roulette and $3 3/2 blackjack. In the post-COVID era, these games are not profitable, and the dealer shortage makes it nearly impossible to operate table game pits as a loss leader.
The casino reopened in June 2020 without live tables. They never returned. Several electronic table games replaced the live versions.
Other changes included merging the player’s club into Boyd Rewards. Previously, Prime Rewards was used. That club was incorporated into Boyd Rewards after Eldorado in downtown Henderson was sold by Boyd Gaming in 2020. It is called Pass Casino today. The 10/7 Double Bonus video poker games were downgraded to 9/7 or worse.
Jokers Wild Visit
I visited Jokers Wild on July 16, 2024. There were about 20 players in the entire casino. Most machines are older. There was no excitement in the air. It had the feel of an old-school grind joint.
We played 98% nickel video poker for two hours. We encountered polite staff and talked briefly with another player who was having a good time. Only one of the two bars was open. The restaurant closed most of its dining room. Slots were stored in some of the former restaurant space.
There was no excitement in the air. It had the feel of an old-school grind joint.
There is little to get excited about at Jokers Wild as it likely winds down operations. The best game is $1 heads-up bubble craps. The other electronic table games are $1 double zero roulette and 6/5 blackjack.
The best video poker games are around 99%. This includes quarter, half-dollar, and dollar 8/5 Bonus Poker and 9/7 Double Bonus Poker. A starry 10/7 Double Bonus machine was on the floor during a previous visit. It appears Jokers Wild found this oversight and also downgraded it.
Images From My Jokers Wild Visit
Eastside Cannery Still Closed
Boyd Gaming owns the shuttered Eastside Cannery. It is between Sam’s Town and Jokers Wild on Boulder Highway. It closed in March 2020 for the COVID-19 pandemic and never reopened. Its future is in doubt. Boyd Gaming has yet to make an official decision on the property. That is in contrast to Station Casinos, which already demolished the three casinos it closed during the pandemic era.
There is likely insufficient demand in the Boulder Highway corridor for Eastside Cannery to reopen. In 2019, Arizona Charlie’s Boulder downgraded operations by removing live table games.
In March 2020, Eastside Cannery and Fiesta Henderson closed and never reopened, and Jokers Wild and Longhorn stopped hosting live table games.
Sunset Station has removed about one-third of its live tables since then. In 2022, Club Fortune removed all live tables. In 2023, Pass Casino, which opened in 2021, did the same. In 2024, Railroad Pass removed its table games pit.
While Sam’s Town is open, its pit has lost about one-quarter of its tables. Part of the casino, where the keno lounge and poker room were, is still walled off.
The Future of Boulder Highway
With the future demolition and rebuilding of Jokers Wild into a major casino for locals, it seems there is no place for Eastside Cannery, especially since Boyd Gaming owns the closest casinos to it on the east side of Boulder Highway and plans a significant construction project on one of the parcels.
These moves demonstrate that there is less casino demand in the area than five or more years ago.
Sources
1 https://news3lv.com/news/local/city-of-henderson-approves-jokers-wild-rebuild-on-boulder-highway
All pictures courtesy of John and Kristina Mehaffey
