Golden Gate, the oldest downtown Las Vegas hotel, will remove all live table games by the end of August 2025. This will leave 11 downtown Las Vegas casinos with live tables. The ones at Main Street Station are only open on weekends.
Vital Vegas first reported the story. It started with live craps leaving the building. Golden Gate later released a statement that all live table games would disappear. Electronic table games, possibly in the form of a stadium, will replace the pit. Affected Golden Gate employees will be moved to Circa, The D, or other departments at Golden Gate, according to the statement. All three casinos have the same owners.
Golden Gate shrunk its pit twice since the pandemic. First, several tables in the back were removed. Later, a craps table disappeared to make room for more electronic table games.
Golden Gate has appeared slower during our visits when compared to before Circa opened across the Fremont Street Experience from it in 2020. Golden Gate has a small hotel with no amenities. The only restaurant closed in 2017.
Today, 69 casinos in the Las Vegas market have live table games. When Golden Gate removes its pit, that number will drop to 68. Poker Palace will close around the end of September. That will lower the number of casinos with table games to 67.
Casinos in and around Las Vegas that have removed live tables since 2020
In 2019, Las Vegas had 81 casinos with live table games. That is when Arizona Charlie’s Boulder removed its pit. The pandemic closure caused that number to drop substantially.
Eastside Cannery, Fiesta Henderson, Fiesta Rancho, and Texas Station permanently closed in March 2020. When Bighorn, Casino Royale, Jokers Wild, Longhorn, Lucky Club, and Silver Nugget reopened, it was without live tables. Silver Nugget ceased all operations in 2024.
Alamo, Club Fortune, and Railroad Pass brought tables back after the pandemic closure, only to later remove them. Pass Casino opened in 2021 with live tables, but uninstalled them in 2023.
In 2024, Mirage and Tropicana closed. Silver Sevens switched from live tables to hybrid ones.
The news is not entirely bad. Circa, Durango, Fontainebleau, and Resorts World opened with tables since COVID. Slots A Fun brought live games back.
No more table games in Jean or Primm
Jean and Primm are just south of Las Vegas along Interstate 15. In March 2020, all four casinos in that area had live table games. Terrible’s in Jean, once known as Gold Strike, never reopened after the pandemic closure. Whiskey Pete’s reopened in June 2020 and closed in December 2024. It never brought back live tables.
Primm Valley Resort reopened with table games in June 2020. These moved to Buffalo Bill’s in December 2022 when Buffalo Bill’s reopened. Buffalo Bill’s removed live tables last year before closing earlier in the summer, as first reported by Vegas Advantage. Primm Valley Resort only has slots and video poker. The pit never returned.
Table games are expensive to operate
Nevada’s minimum wage is $12 an hour. It takes at least two employees for every open table, including breakers, supervisors, surveillance personnel, and security. Maintenance, licensing, chips, cards, and shuffling machines add to the expense. Craps is especially expensive to deal as it requires at least four employees to operate a full table. These costs make low-limit tables unprofitable. Many casinos decided to no longer run these games as loss leaders.
Golden Gate and Poker Palace will not be the last casinos to remove tables or close. Vegas Advantage predicts that the market will continue to lose about two each year indefinitely.
