Kristina and I went downtown and walked through all 12 casinos in the Fremont Street Experience area on Tuesday, March 7, 2023.
We started at Plaza. The front entrance is one massive construction project. The picture below is the carousel bar nearing completion.
There was little difference at Plaza from our previous visits. All the table games were $10, except single zero roulette, which was $15. I don’t recall seeing single zero roulette open on Tuesday afternoons in the past.
Golden Gate lowered its limits from our past visits. Blackjack, craps, and roulette were $10. We had $15 for several of our previous surveys.
Circa was the biggest surprise. I never saw a $10 blackjack or roulette game there before yesterday. There were multiple open tables for each. Craps was $15 and idle.
We walked through Main Street Station, but there was nothing notable as the tables are closed during the week. Nothing else looked different. It was nearly empty.
California was the same as it has always been. The tables were mostly $15, with some $10 poker pit games. Pai gow poker was $25. Craps was $15. It had no players.
The Binion’s pit was mostly open. Most games had a $10 minimum bet. Craps was $15 and had no action. I did not see a single player at a $15 table in downtown Las Vegas. All those were empty. About half of the $10 tables had action.
Golden Nugget was its usual self. There were endless $5 table games that include a huge variety of poker pit games like Let it Ride, Crazy 4 Poker, and High Card Flush. Golden Nugget was packed when every other casino was slow. It seemed these $5 tables were part of the reason. Craps was $10 and had two busy tables. Golden Nugget has the last Fortune Pai Gow Poker table left in downtown Las Vegas. It had a $15 minimum bet.
Nothing had changed at Fremont. The open games were mostly $15, except 6/5 blackjack with a mandatory side bet was $11. Fremont still has the only Texas Hold’em Bonus game in the entire Las Vegas market. It shows a $10 minimum bet. It only seems to be open at peak hours. The new food court was busy. I liked being able to walk out the back of it to Ogden. There is a lot of work happening inside Fremont. Many of the electronic table games were missing due to that.
Downtown Grand did not have a live craps game open. I don’t know if it has $5 craps these days. I have seen it for $10 the last two times and now it was closed in the late afternoon. A $3 hybrid craps game was installed that seems to have taken over for it. Downtown Grand had $5 roulette, Ultimate Texas Hold’em, and 3/2 blackjack open.
El Cortez had all $10 tables. I think there are a few dozen missing coin games from our last visit. There may be fewer than 100 left on the property.
We ended the afternoon at The D. We played some uneventful video poker at Vue Bar before heading over to Plaza.
Sand Dollar Lounge has become our favorite video poker bar
Sand Dollar Lounge is non-smoking. It also has several 99% and better video poker games. The staff is great. It is becoming one of our favorite spots.
Sand Dollar has been open for close to a year. At first, it seemed out of place, and I didn’t go in there often. It grew on me. I don’t know if it is my getting older, the slow pandemic years creating less smoke, or getting spoiled at Sand Dollar, but the smoke at video poker bars is becoming too much for me. It is nice to have great games somewhere smoking is not an issue.
Plaza is opening a non-smoking casino floor near its front entrance later this year. It will be the first of its kind in downtown Las Vegas.
