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The off-Strip Palms Casino Resort, which has been shuttered for more than two years, will remain closed for a few more weeks while the management team hired by the property’s new owner continues to work out the opening plans.

Southern California’s San Manuel Band of Mission Indians acquired the 703-room property from Red Rock Resorts for $650 million last year. In December, Nevada gaming regulators signed off on the deal in which San Manuel became the first American Indian-owned enterprise to own and operate a casino resort in Las Vegas.

The tribe installed longtime Las Vegas gaming executive Cynthia Kiser Murphey as the Palms’ general manager. The tribe originally targeted late March for the potential reopening.

Murphey told Nevada gaming regulators the Palms would open “as soon as we can and as soon as we can do it right.”

The Palms was one of four Red Rock properties that remained closed following the state’s 78-day shutdown of gaming because of the pandemic. While the Palms will soon welcome back customers, the future is unclear for the other three casinos – Texas Station, Fiesta Rancho and Fiesta Henderson.

Prior to the closure, the Palms had 1,200 employees. Murphey hoped to rehire between 500 and 600 of the workers, “given the current labor market conditions in Las Vegas.” She said the returning employees would receive their seniority and benefits.

In an email Tuesday, Murphey said the Palms would reopen “this spring,” but hesitated to provide an opening date.

"We have seen an amazing response to our recruitment events in the past few weeks,” Murphey said. “Our team interviewed over 1,800 candidates in just nine days with many of those candidates highly qualified for the positions they seek.”

She said the property had also initiated recall efforts to bring back eligible Palms employees.

“(We) are happy to report we will be making job offers to many recall-eligible team members,” Murphey said. “As you can imagine, from property turnover to opening, we have had to move quickly.”

Murphey, who was president of MGM Resorts International’s New York-New York Hotel-Casino on the Strip for more than 10 years, told gaming regulators the Palms was “an incredibly beautiful property” that was “remodeled with meticulous attention to detail, beautiful rooms, amazing suites, 23 beautiful restaurants and a very vibrant gaming floor.”

On Tuesday, the Palms announced that Mabel’s BBQ by Chef Michael Symon will return to the casino. The restaurant was one of several new eateries added during the resort’s renovations prior to the shutdown.

In addition to the hotel, the Palms has the 599-unit Palms Place condominium tower. The 100,000 square-foot Palms casino has 1,400 slot machines and 55 table games and a race and sportsbook that will be operated by Caesars Entertainment-owned William Hill US.

The long shutdown required water pressure testing and infrastructure checks to make sure everything still worked, as well as refreshing the parking lot and landscaping. Several locations that featured high-priced artwork owned by Red Rock need restoration.

“As for capital investment, we are going to remodel the back of the house and make the employee facilities more appealing,” Murphey said.

Meanwhile, the San Manuel Tribe is going through its own changes.

Former tribal chairwoman Lynn Valbuena was elected as tribal chair after leaving the position in 2020. The San Manuel Tribe has yet to make a formal announcement about Valbuena’s election, which was revealed on Twitter on March 12 by Victor Rocha, a longtime Indian gaming activist, spokesman and conference chairman for the upcoming National Indian Gaming Association tradeshow and meeting in Anaheim, California.

Rocha is a member of Southern California’s Pechanga Band of Luiseño Indians.

A spokeswoman for San Manuel said an announcement on Valbuena’s election was pending.

Valbuena held elective positions both with San Manuel and the National Indian Gaming Association for nearly 30 years. In 2015, she was the first female tribal leader to be inducted into the American Gaming Association’s Gaming Hall of Fame.

Valbuena served three consecutive terms as the tribe’s chairwoman starting in 2014 before she was replaced by Kenneth Ramirez in April 2020.

In February 2020, Valbuena helped engineer a $9 million donation by the tribe to UNLV.

The gift – $6 million to the William F. Harrah College of Hospitality and $3 million to William S. Boyd School of Law – funds tribal development programs at the two schools. It was the single-largest philanthropic contribution made by the tribe outside of California to an educational or health care institution.

The change in the tribal chair does not disrupt the Palms licensing or operations.

San Manuel Gaming and Hospitality Authority, a governmental entity of the San Manuel Band of Mission Indians, was licensed by Nevada gaming regulators to own and operate Palms Casino Resort. The San Manuel Tribe owns and operates Yaamava’ Resort & Casino in San Bernardino County.

The board includes three tribal representatives – Chairwoman Latisha Casas, Vice Chairman Deron Maquez and Secretary Carla Rodriguez. The authority’s two management representatives and San Manuel CEO Laurens Vosloo and Chief Legal Officer Erin Copeland.

Prior to selling the Palms, Red Rock Resorts spent more than $1 billion on the property, including $321.5 million to purchase the hotel-casino in 2016 and $690 million on a redevelopment effort. That effort became a financial drain on the company.

Much of the cost overruns stemmed from exorbitant spending on the Kaos Nightclub and Dayclub, a flashy 73,000-square-foot indoor-outdoor venue that took up the pool area. The facility opened to mixed reviews. Red Rock paid some $34 million in one-time charges and payments over several months in 2019 to close the club and buy out the contracts of several high-priced celebrity performers and deejays.

On Monday, the Las Vegas Review-Journal reported that celebrity deejay Kaskade, whose legal name is Ryan Raddon, won an $8 million judgment in Las Vegas federal court against a Red Rock Resorts subsidiary over canceled dates.

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Future Strip operators finalists for Chicago casino

Two casino companies that will soon be part of the Las Vegas Strip were named as finalists for an integrated resort project in downtown Chicago on Tuesday.

Bally’s Corp. and Seminole Gaming’s Hard Rock Entertainment were selected along with Illinois-based Rush Street Gaming to continue the process that could ultimately land one company the rights to build a $1.7 billion to $2 billion casino-resort in the nation’s third-largest city.

The three finalists will participate in community engagement meetings in early April. The city will then select a single finalist to be presented to the city council and mayor for final approval.

During a Zoom media briefing Tuesday morning, Chicago Chief Financial Officer Jennie Bennett said city leaders overseeing the selection process would have discussions with the three companies over the financial commitment and timing.

“We have noted the other projects that they're working on,” Bennett said. “But I think that also comes part and parcel with selecting an operator who has extensive experience across the country and operating casinos, which is also very important to us.”

In a statement, Chicago Mayor Lori Lightfoot said designating the finalists brings the city’s long quest for a downtown casino closer to fruition.

“Each proposal offers economic, employment, and equity-focused opportunities for Chicago, while simultaneously enhancing the city’s cultural, entertainment and architectural scenes with world-class amenities and design,” Lightfoot said.

City officials said the casino would have access to a metropolitan area of 9.5 million people and an annual visitation of another 60 million people.

When Chicago first announced the integrated resorts project, Lightfoot and other Chicago leaders said the pitch was designed to entice the Las Vegas Boulevard’s best-known occupants. However, MGM Resorts International, Las Vegas Sands, Wynn Resorts and Caesars Entertainment all decided against submitting bids.

Instead, the development attracted Rhode Island-based Bally’s, which is in the process of acquiring the operations of Tropicana Las Vegas in a $308 million deal. Meanwhile, Florida-based Hard Rock plans to spend $1 billion to purchase The Mirage and will convert the resort into Hard Rock Las Vegas.

Rush Street already operates Rivers Casino in Des Plaines – just 20 miles north of downtown Chicago and could be viewed as having the hometown edge.

The top three bids included a $1.8 billion proposal by Bally’s at the former Chicago Tribune Publishing Center. The facility would house a 500-room hotel, a casino with 3,400 slot machines and 173 table games; six restaurants and cafes and a food hall; three bars and lounges; a 3,000-seat, 70,000-square-foot entertainment venue; 20,000 square feet of exhibition space; and an outdoor-rooftop green space that includes bars, lounges and pools.

Hard Rock is proposing a $1.7 billion HR Chicago at ONE Central. The building would include 500 rooms and a casino with 3,400 slot machines and 166 table games. Non-gaming features include eight restaurants, cafes and a food hall; six bars and lounges; a 3,500-seat Hard Rock Live; a spa; and a Hard Rock Music and Entertainment Experience.

Rush Street Gaming’s $2 billion project is Rivers 78, a 300-room hotel-casino in the eight-acre riverfront entertainment district at the northern end of the mixed-use 78 neighborhood. The casino would have 2,600 slot machines and 190 table games. Non-gaming features include eight restaurants and cafes and a food hall; five bars and lounges; a riverfront plaza; an observation tower with indoor-outdoor viewing space; a Harbor Hall multipurpose riverfront venue for live entertainment, and a culture-arts and community programs with rooftop space

The two rejected projects were from Bally’s and Rush Street that were located at McCormick Place – Chicago’s nearly 3 million-square-foot convention facility. The location was opposed by residents and several of the city’s elected leaders.

The winning bidder stands to receive a license to operate a temporary casino for up to 24 months – which is subject to a 12-month extension – until the permanent casino opens. Also, the casino operator can operate slot machines at the city’s two major airports – Chicago Midway International Airport and Chicago O’Hare International. Between the casino and the airports, the combined number of gaming positions (table games and slot machines) allowed is 4,000.

The downtown Chicago casino will have a 40 percent tax on gaming revenues and compete in a state that currently has 10 casinos and more than 40,000 video gaming terminals operating in 7,670 locations.

Bennett said the downtown casino would also draw Chicago-area residents back from casinos in neighboring northern Indiana.

“Every year, the state loses $331 million in revenues to Indiana to pay for their essential services,” Bennett said. “We expect the Chicago casino will repatriate about $190 million of those revenues back to the city. We lose as a city about $200 million a year for every year that the casino isn't open. So speed to execution is extremely important to us.”

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Resorts World hopes underground link to the Las Vegas Convention Center opens next month

The underground Las Vegas Loop project that connects the Las Vegas Convention Center to Resorts World Las Vegas could open next month, the property’s president, Scott Sibella, said.

During a licensing hearing in front of the Nevada Gaming Commission last week, Sibella said he was hopeful the station for the Tesla vehicles that will transport customers below the Strip to the convention center would be ready by the upcoming National Broadcasters Convention. Elon Musk’s Boring Company already completed the tunnel connections, Sibella told the Gaming Control Board two weeks earlier.

Resorts World will be the first Strip property connected to the underground transportation system that is expected to link other properties in the Strip corridor.

In total, the Las Vegas Convention and Visitors Authority said the Loop is envisioned to be part of a 29-mile underground system with more than 50 passenger stations.

According to the Las Vegas Review-Journal, an underground connection between the convention center and the Westgate that would intersect with the endpoint of the Resorts World tunnel has been approved by the LVCVA.

The current Las Vegas Loop, which connects much of the Las Vegas Convention Center, is serviced by Tesla vehicles. Sibella told the Gaming Commission eight Tesla cars would be dedicated to the 3,500-room Resorts World, which is located in close proximity to the convention center’s west hall.

After a brief hearing, the Gaming Commission approved licenses for several executives from Malaysia-based Genting Berhad, which developed and owns the $4.3 billion Resorts World, including Chairman K.T. Lim. Most of the executives’ appearances were waived by the commission and two who did appear did so by video chat from Malaysia, where it was 1 a.m.

Resorts World Las Vegas opened last June as the Strip's first all-new hotel-casino in more than a decade. At the time, property officials hoped the underground connection to the convention center would have been completed by last August.

Resorts World sits on an 88-acre site with about half of the land still undeveloped. Sibella said plans could be in place by the end of the year for a second phase with more hotel rooms, additional convention space and an arena.

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Other items of interest

The Las Vegas Convention and Visitors Authority announced two large tradeshows that will join the rotation at the Las Vegas Convention Center over the next decade.

The National Confectioners Association said its annual Sweets & Snacks Expo will rotate between Las Vegas and Indianapolis for the next 10 years. The show will be held in Las Vegas starting in 2026. The show has been held in Chicago for the past 25 years.

The Sweets & Snacks Expo includes candy and snack retailers, manufacturers, and suppliers including companies such as Hershey, Ghirardelli, Russel Stover and Jelly Belly that showcase the latest product innovations.

The Global System for Mobile Communications will move the North American Mobile World Congress to the convention center for the first time at the end of September and return in 2023. The conference includes key decision-makers from technology industries.

The LVCVA also announced the contract extensions for five other tradeshows and conferences starting this year and into 2024.

LVCVA officials said the contracts come as the meeting and convention industry recovers after the pandemic halted in-person events. Pre-pandemic, the tourism agency said business travel to Las Vegas accounted for more than $11 billion in economic impact. Since in-person meetings and conventions returned to Las Vegas last June, the convention center has hosted 66 tradeshows and events with approximately 900,000 attendees.

Gaming analyst Brendan Bussmann has formed B Global, a new Las Vegas-based consulting and public affairs firm targeting the gaming, sports, and hospitality industries.

Bussmann has spent 25 years advising public and private companies, tribal nations, sports organizations, financial institutions, associations, and government agencies. He said B Global currently works with clients worldwide, providing strategic advice on public affairs, crisis communications, legislative and regulatory affairs, business planning, new market entry and market feasibility.

“I am excited about the future and the collaboration that can take place with new partners and new perspectives in the gaming, sports, and hospitality sectors,” Bussmann said.

Las Vegas-based Marker Trax sold an undisclosed minority ownership stake to Euronet Worldwide, a financial technology company. Financial terms were not disclosed by privately held Marker Trax, which provides casinos with technology to offer players cashless casino markers.

The Marker Trax system is in six casinos – Ellis Island, Emerald Island and Arizona Charlie’s Decatur in Southern Nevada, Grand Sierra Resort and Baldini’s Sports Casino in Northern Nevada and Southern California’s Morongo Casino – and is integrated with casino management systems.

Under the terms of the deal, Euronet’s financial payment platform was licensed to Marker Trax last year and integrated into the system. In a statement, Euronet said the digital marker system enrolled “thousands of casino patrons” and processed “millions of dollars in gaming credit” at Las Vegas-area casinos.

“We have treated our relationship with Marker Trax as a partnership and not merely as a technology license,” Euronet executive vice president Kevin Caponecchi said in a statement.

Marker Trax CEO Gary Ellis said the payment platform has allowed the company to use new innovations in the system, including an enhanced operator dashboard, detailed visibility into player activity, and other key metrics.

The Tahoe Biltmore has seen better days and its new owner plans to follow through on previous redevelopment plans for the property on the North Shore.

Newport Beach-based EKN Development bought the Tahoe Biltmore Lodge & Casino last September for $56.8 million, one of two high-profile acquisitions by the company in 2021. Last year, EKN also acquired the Beesley Cottages in Tahoe Vista, which it plans to transform into a high-end lakefront beach club.

EKN told the Reno Gazette-Journal last week it was winding down the gaming operations at Tahoe Biltmore and will then move forward with demolishing the property and grading over the site in the spring.

The plans call for a resort with condominiums, a hotel, and a casino. EKN said the project will be finished sometime in 2025.

Culinary Workers Union Local 226 has named its new leadership team led by Ted Pappageorge, who was appointed secretary-treasurer last month following the retirement of Geoconda Argüello-Kline.

Diana Valles was appointed president of the union that represents some 60,000 non-gaming workers at Strip and downtown Las Vegas resorts. Leain Vashon is continuing in his role as the Culinary’s vice president.

“I’ve seen what workers can accomplish together and how Nevada has changed because our union has been militant about not allowing working families to be left behind,” said Pappageorge, a former bartender and 40-year member of the union who was the president under Argüello-Kline. He said one of the primary focuses is preparing for citywide contract negotiations in 2023.

“Looking forward, we will continue fighting for fair shift scheduling, stations, and workloads. We need to fight back against unfair IRS tip taxes (and) protect daily room cleaning,” he said,

Valles is a former guest room attendant and Vashon is a bell captain at Paris Las Vegas.

An analytics company says Nevada is the nation’s most sports-obsessed state, outpacing Massachusetts and California, which have a combined 15 professional sports teams compared to just two in the Silver State.

Sports betting may be the difference-maker.

The study, conducted by odds comparison experts Sidelines.io, a subsidiary of SportsDataIO, analyzed average Google search volumes for every month over the last two years for the four major sports leagues. The figure was measured against the population to see which states had the highest number of searches for every 1,000 people.

The study found that Nevada was the highest, with 220 sports-related searches per 1,000 people every month on average, with 668,000 searches overall every month. Massachusetts was second with 195 sports searches per 1,000 people and 1.3 million total searches every month. California was third with 192 sports searches per 1,000 people and 7.6 million every month.

Neither Massachusetts nor California have legal sports betting.

Updated at 9:50 a.m. on 3/25/2022 to reflect the ownership structure of the San Manuel Band of Mission Indians and the Palms.