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The Street
The Street
Kirk O’Neil

Las Vegas Strip casino permanently closes popular gambling area

Visitors to the Las Vegas Strip have a variety of entertainment to choose from, ranging from major professional sports, big-name artists performing residencies, celebrity chef restaurants, and casino gaming as far as the eye can see.

A world-class sport hits the Strip on Nov. 21-23 with the Formula 1 Heineken Silver Las Vegas Grand Prix 2024 race. Most ticket options for the popular event are already sold out, including T-Mobile General Admission 3-Day and Single-Day at T-Mobile Zone at Sphere; Flamingo General Admission 3-Day and Single-Day at Flamingo Zone; and Heineken General Admission 3-Day in South Koval Zone.

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Tickets are still available for the Caesars Palace Experience 3-Day Ticket starting at $638 and Heineken General Admission Single-Day in South Koval Zone with first-come, first-served bleacher-style seating for $99.

Related: Popular singer signs for Christmas residency off Las Vegas Strip

The National Football League's Las Vegas Raiders pack Allegiant Stadium with fans during the fall and winter months. Competing for the sports fans' dollars is the National Hockey League's Vegas Golden Knights, who play their games at T-Mobile Arena on the Strip.

When it comes to Las Vegas Strip residencies, the most popular show on the Las Vegas Strip right now is The Eagles at Sphere Entertainment's  (SPHR)  Sphere Las Vegas. The band began their engagement on Sept. 20, 2024, and has extended the residency's original eight shows to 28 performances through March 15, 2025.

More Las Vegas Strip:

Fans of celebrity chefs can enjoy Wolfgang Puck Bar and Grill at MGM Resorts International's  (MGM)  MGM Grand or maybe Gordon Ramsay's Hell's Kitchen at Caesars Entertainment's  (CZR)  Caesars Palace. Celebrity chefs Bobby Flay and Guy Fieri have restaurants at Caesars properties as well.

The Strip is full of casinos offering table games and slots for gamblers, but for card players, many might be out of luck since casinos have been closing their poker rooms.

Sahara Las Vegas Poker Room is closing Nov. 16, 2024.

Sahara Las Vegas

Sahara Las Vegas closing poker room

Sahara Las Vegas will become the seventh casino on the Strip to close its poker room in the last five years when it shuts down on Nov. 16.

Related: Las Vegas Strip casino closes superstar rock band's residency

The hotel-casino revealed that it will close its seven-table poker room and replace it with an expanded slot machine floor that will include "new gaming experiences where players can be some of the first in Las Vegas to try the latest games from top gaming content providers," according to its website.

Sahara opened its poker room in February 2020 just before the Covid-19 pandemic shut down all casinos in Las Vegas. Sahara's original poker room closed in 2011.

The 70-year-old hotel-casino will become the seventh casino to close its poker room in the last five years, Casino.org reported.

The Excaliber closed its poker room in March 2020 as a result of the Covid-19 pandemic and never reopened. Harrah's closed its poker room in June 2020, converting it to a non-smoking slots area and then an electronic table game area after the pandemic.

Planet Hollywood closed its poker room in July 2021 and the Flamingo followed in November 2021. The Mirage and Tropicana also closed their poker rooms.

Poker rooms don't make enough money for casinos

The reason for casinos closing their poker rooms is that the card game doesn't earn as much as table games or machines, since poker provides no edge to the house, Casino.org said. Casinos don't benefit from a player's loss, as they only earn a small percentage taken from each pot or tournament fees.

One casino, however, is bucking the trend of closing poker rooms as the Venetian Resort on Aug. 1 opened its brand-new, luxurious poker room at The Palazzo on Level 2 of the Grand Canal Shoppes.

The Palazzo poker room consists of 50 tables across 14,000 square feet of floor space, making it the largest poker room on the Strip.

Related: Veteran fund manager sees world of pain coming for stocks

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