The Bear Growls: Incompetent casino management destroying downtown Las Vegas
I rarely venture downtown anymore. I used to be a fan of downtown, but not any longer. The current crop of folks running the downtown casinos seem to want to deliberately destroy what is left of downtown. I recently paid a visit while taking care of some other business. I hoped to see some improvement. I was disappointed.
The Navegante Group that has taken over Plaza and Vegas Club has succeeded in chasing off most anyone who bets more than a few red chips. Vegas Club pit personnel in particular seem to delight in chasing patrons away, even ones who play poorly. The table maxes on some carnival games at Plaza and Vegas Club have been lowered to $25 – what a joke!
Golden Gate has no playable blackjack. Golden Nugget only has a few tables that are anything but garbage games, and management is openly hostile to anyone betting reasonable stakes except for the absolute stupidest players. Binion’s is perhaps the worst, with almost wall-to-wall garbage games and rude staff. The others have the lousy table game lineups they’ve always had — not worth walking across the street to play.
Every year, downtown’s gaming win decreases. One would think that the managers would eventually realize that offering worse and worse table games is not the answer. The only thing downtown has to offer is better value for its patrons than the mostly ripoff places on the Strip and the locals casinos around town. It appears obvious that the casino managers should try to capitalize on that one marketing capability. But they have not. Instead, as their games get worse and worse, fewer and fewer people go downtown. It’s truly a shame.
Girls of Glitter Gulch is closed, supposedly for remodeling. I wonder if it’ll ever reopen.
The condos being built at Las Vegas Blvd. and Ogden are progressing. But I wonder who will pay ridiculous prices for the privilege of living at the edge of the dangerous slums just east of it. A new nightclub has opened between Las Vegas Blvd. and the El Cortez, so maybe it’ll breathe a little life into the area, between the expected nightclub-related stabbings, shootings, and drunken/drug-addled brawls.
It’ll be a long time before I visit downtown again.
NOTE: As of May 1, 2007, Girls of Glitter Gulch has reopened.
