On August 11, 2024, Vegas Advantage covered the south end of the Las Vegas locals market. We visited Alamo, Silverton, South Point, M Resort, and Green Valley Ranch. On the way to Alamo, I joked with Kristina that it would not surprise me to find the blackjack tables permanently closed one day. Then, during our visit, we discovered that Alamo permanently closed its blackjack tables.
Alamo is a truck stop on Blue Diamond Road across from Silverton. It was the only Las Vegas truck stop with live table games.
The Alamo blackjack game started as the best in Las Vegas. It used one deck, paid 3/2, allowed double down on any two cards but not after splitting, had surrender, and a six-card Charlie. Pairs could be split into four hands.
Around 2014, the game moved to four decks with most of these rules. Within a few years, the game paid 6/5. Double down was limited to 10 and 11. Aces could not be re-split. It was one of the worst Las Vegas blackjack games. It had a $15 or $20 minimum bet by the end.
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Las Vegas lost 15 casinos with table games since March 2020
In March 2020, 80 casinos in the Las Vegas market dealt table games. Today, there are 70. However, five opened or brought back tables during that time. Circa, Resorts World, Fontainebleau, and Durango all held grand openings since the pandemic closure. Each has live table games. Slots A Fun brought live table games back. This makes 15 lost casinos with table game pits.
Four casinos that had live tables in March 2020 are no longer open. Those are Eastside Cannery, Fiesta Henderson, Fiesta Rancho, and Texas Station. Three are now demolished. Eastside Cannery still stands. However, it seems unlikely it will ever reopen as a casino. Mirage and Tropicana are currently closed.
In North Las Vegas, Silver Nugget took a few months to reopen after being permitted in 2020. It did so without live table games. Silver Nugget previously had a $5 3/2 blackjack game that was only open on weekends. It dealt no other games. Silver Nugget closed in 2023. Its future is unknown.
Seven more casinos are still open but are slots-only. Many do not even offer electronic table games. Alamo just entered this list. These other casinos are listed below. The pit closed in March 2020 unless otherwise noted.
Bighorn and Longhorn
Bighorn is on East Lake Mead Blvd in North Las Vegas. Longhorn is on Boulder Highway across from Eastside Cannery. Both had a great $5 blackjack game. Players could double down on two or three cards before and after splitting. Surrender was available. Aces could be split into three hands. Other pairs could be split an unlimited number of times.
Casino Royale
Casino Royale is the only Las Vegas Strip casino without table games, unless Aztec Inn is considered on the Strip. It had $4 and $5 table games during its pit’s last days open. At one time, it had 100 times craps odds, though that was dropped to 3-4-5 times. Casino Royale was the first Las Vegas Strip casino to deal Blackjack Switch. It is the casino we found Free Bet Blackjack.
Club Fortune
Club Fortune reopened table games in 2020. Unfortunately, it dropped them in 2022. Club Fortune was the last Las Vegas casino with $1 craps. It was the last one to regularly deal $5 pai gow poker, though we have seen that game once each since 2022 at Arizona Charlie’s Decatur and Cannery.
Jokers Wild
Jokers Wild had cheap table games before the pit closed in 2020. It had $1 10 times craps during the week. Craps went up to $2 on weekends. Jokers Wild also had $2 double zero roulette, $3 six-deck blackjack, and $5 double-deck blackjack. All Jokers Wild blackjack paid 3/2. Jokers Wild will close in the next year to make way for a new casino.
Lucky Club
Lucky Club in North Las Vegas was home to the last $1 3/2 blackjack game in Las Vegas. It had four tables during our last visit a few months before the pandemic closure. It had no other live table games. Lucky Club reopened without live tables and was later branded Ojos Locos.
Railroad Pass
Railroad Pass reopened with table games in 2020. About four years later, it closed them. It was one of the last casinos in the Las Vegas market with $5 craps. Railroad Pass has the oldest operating gaming license.
Tables arrived and departed from Pass Casino
In 2021, Pass Casino opened in the former Eldorado space in downtown Henderson. It had table games when it opened. Eldorado was previously slots-only when it closed in March 2020. In January 2024, table games were removed from Pass Casino.
