Las Vegas 2024: Gaming Evolution & Casino Transformations

Last year, 4 Queens in downtown Las Vegas announced a full-gutting rehab of its North Tower. Boyd Gaming is renovating hotel rooms at the Orleans now that it’s completed upgrading those at the nearby Gold Coast. One of the many reasons to visit Las Vegas is that the city is always changing. New restaurants, shows, lounges, and other amenities keep the casinos feeling fresh.

Over the past two decades, casinos have steadily introduced electronic table games, blending them on the floor alongside live blackjack, roulette and craps. For most of that time, ETGs were a niche add-on, appealing to certain players but never fully replacing the energy and excitement of table games with live dealers. Last year, slot machines generated about twice as much revenue in Nevada and Clark County casinos than table games, according to the Nevada Gaming Control Board. While the lower-limit games accounted for the majority of that revenue, new high-limit slots can be big money-makers since they play much faster than older reel slots.

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In 2024, hotel rooms generated more revenue than gambling at Vegas Strip casinos. Hotel rooms were 29% of revenue at off-strip casinos and 20.3% in downtown casinos. Amidst the regulatory challenges, Las Vegas is also experiencing a surge in casino developments. Several new casinos are under construction, promising to offer state-of-the-art gaming experiences along with luxurious hospitality services. These new projects are part of ambitious expansion plans that aim to boost tourism and entertainment offerings in the city. The approval of amendments to gaming regulations on private salons wasn’t the slam dunk many experts thought they would be, but approval came after an hour of debate.

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The resort will also include a casino and a VIP experience with direct access to the ballpark, blending the thrill of professional sports with the energy of the Strip. This is also the only casino poker room in Las Vegas without plexiglass as of the writing of this article. The casino was able to remove the barriers when it was allowed to increase capacity because of the number of employees vaccinated.

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• The resort will also include a casino and a VIP experience with direct access to the ballpark, blending the thrill of professional sports with the energy of the Strip.
• Consider the news impressive as the increased visitor numbers were already climbing even before capacity increasing inside casinos, restaurants and bars.
• All Caesars, MGM Resorts, Boyd Gaming and Station Casinos properties were also allowed 100% capacity shortly thereafter.
• Casino gaming win was the best February ever and the fifth-best month in history for the Strip and sixth best for the state, according to the Nevada Gaming Control Board.
• Casino operators are adapting to new consumer behaviors, labor pressures and the economics of running a gaming floor in a digital age.

The former Wet ‘n Wild waterpark holds a special place in the hearts of Las Vegas locals. The empty 27-acre lot where the amusement park once stood is a sore subject for many city residents. But it’s not just domestic sports that are driving the narrative that Las Vegas has become a sports town.

• The project aims to meet the growing demand for integrated entertainment while positioning Las Vegas as the ultimate stage for professional baseball and large-scale global tourism.
• While the return of Las Vegas is great, it’s going to be a bumpy ride for a little while.
• Casino resorts are diversifying their offerings to include more than traditional gaming, with a push towards integrated resort experiences that combine luxury, entertainment, and cutting-edge technology.
• The Nevada Gaming Commission has intensified its oversight, ensuring that all gaming establishments adhere to the stringent gambling regulations set forth by the state.
• In 2024, the city is witnessing significant changes that are shaping its future.
• Confirmed layoffs started taking place last summer, with the off-Strip Rio casino acknowledging labor reductions in August.

Nearly every major tourism indicator — except gross gaming win — was down for the month of August, continuing a trend that began earlier this summer. The $6.3 billion dual acquisition of IGT and Everi all but solidifies Apollo as one of the largest and most influential players in the gaming industry. Apollo is the current casino-hotel operator of The Venetian and The Palazzo on the Strip, and it now controls a market-leading digital system and game manufacturer. Online sports gambling is legal in 33 states and Washington, D.C., putting digital gambling in the hands of more than one-third of Americans.

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The Nevada Gaming Control Board alleged that Resorts World allowed Bowyer to play 80 separate days over about 15 months, while repeatedly failing to verify his source of funding. Bowyer lost over $6.6 million during that time, while the casino extended gifts, discounts and flights on its private jet, according to the complaint. A cyberattack against two major Las Vegas casino operators, in which a teenage boy is accused of helping carry out, caused millions of dollars in damage, authorities said. Las Vegas’s historic core lies at a site once occupied by marshes, freshwater springs, and grassy meadows (hence the city’s name; vegas is Spanish for “meadows”), long since covered by streets, buildings, and parking lots. The modern-day city sprawls across a broad, arid valley at an elevation of roughly 2,000 feet (610 meters). The valley fans out eastward from the picturesque, pine-clad Spring Mountains, whose highest point, Charleston Peak, rises above 11,910 feet (3,630 meters).

Kimberly Antes, who is searching for work in the sector, said the decline is concerning. She noted that even longtime employees are being impacted, citing a friend who was pushed to the bottom of the scheduling list after five regular servers were laid off. Although analysts are always hinting at potential blockbuster mergers in the gaming industry, few ever actually materialize. That’s why the seemingly out-of-thin-air announcement that New York City-based Apollo Global Management was buying both International Game Technology and Everi Holdings caught the entire gaming world by surprise.

The company’s portfolio also extends to major hospitality, entertainment, and commercial developments worldwide. Envisioned as a vibrant hub for international travelers and regional baseball fans alike, Bally’s Las Vegas will showcase a curated mix of dining concepts, flagship retail and immersive experiences. The project aims to meet the growing demand for integrated entertainment while positioning Las Vegas as the ultimate stage for professional baseball and large-scale global tourism. LAS VEGAS, Sept. 29, 2025 /PRNewswire/ — Bally’s Corporation today announced plans for Bally’s Las Vegas, a transformative new entertainment resort destination set to rise on the iconic Las Vegas Strip at the former site of the Tropicana Las Vegas.

Employers who don’t comply may be liable for back pay for up to 60 days and civil penalties for failing to notify local government entities. Stay informed with the latest expertly curated and reliable stories from the casino and gambling industry. Executives noted last year that the company would get “creative” in upgrading Excalibur’s rooms using old MGM Grand furniture. The company will also reimagine the hotel rooms at W Las Vegas when it announces renovation plans for the recently renamed hotel tower at Mandalay Bay. A brand new high-limit slot room was one of the first parts of Boyd Gaming’s casino floor upgrade at Suncoast.

On the final night of live dealer table games at Golden Gate, Lenny Balmer and his group of friends were playing blackjack. Balmer, a 49-year-old mechanic from Southern California who travels to Las Vegas “a lot,” said he is unlikely to make a return visit to Golden Gate in the future. He now resides in vegas casino app Las Vegas, where he’s been covering casinos and gaming for more than a decade.

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Owens, who has lived in the valley for eight years, said this isn’t her first extended period without work. The Las Vegas Convention and Visitors Authority reported tourism was down 12% year-over-year in July, marking the seventh consecutive month of declining visitation. The downturn is creating a ripple effect for workers who depend on tourist volume for their livelihoods. The NGCB complaint filed against Resorts World Las Vegas in August also alleges that another since-convicted illegal bookmaker named Mathew Bowyer gambled with impunity at the property. Two other individuals with ties to illicit gambling activities were also named in the complaint. In November, the second Formula One Las Vegas Grand Prix took over the Strip, transforming the heavily traveled corridor into a high-speed racetrack.

A recent decision by Golden Gate casino to eliminate all live dealer table games and run a fully electronic casino floor may seem like a radical move for Las Vegas, but it reflects a broader shift taking shape across the gambling industry. Casino operators are adapting to new consumer behaviors, labor pressures and the economics of running a gaming floor in a digital age. According to the most recently available data, visitation to Las Vegas, hotel room occupancy rates and occupied room nights are down through the first three months of 2025 compared with the same period last year. Year-over-year gaming revenue reported by Strip casino operators has declined in six of the past seven months, while downtown Las Vegas casinos posted declines in four of the past six months.

Across the street, Wynn Las Vegas announced it would begin renovating the suites in the Encore Tower this summer. While the project will take most of the year, 600 rooms are already available and are gaining higher prices than the older rooms, according to a recent earnings call when COO Corey Sanders said, “we’ll raise our minimum rates there” when discussing the new rooms. Across the street at Caesars Palace, renovated hotel rooms in the Colosseum Tower and Octavius Towers are generating more than 20% more revenue.

Celine Dion, Carrie Underwood, Katy Perry, Luke Bryan, Tiësto and Zedd are all featured in its “Stay Fabulous” campaign. Rideshares are limited as many drivers stopped last year and haven’t returned in full force. As of a couple of weeks ago, only 50% of rideshare requests were being fulfilled. There’s also a shortage of rental cars as more people are flying in than at any time in the past year. Pre-booked car services can be a bit expensive but that’s one way to beat the traffic at McCarron Airport. According to the WARN Act, no large business may lay off 50 or more employees at a single site during a 30-day period without 60 days’ written notice to the affected employees, their union representatives, and state/local government officials.

Las Vegas, the entertainment capital of the world, continues to evolve as a leading hub for the gaming industry. In 2024, the city is witnessing significant changes that are shaping its future. From regulatory challenges to exciting new casino developments, the landscape of Las Vegas is as dynamic as ever. In explaining the transition to an all-digital casino floor, Stevens said part of the thinking was that live dealer tables may eventually become more of an exclusive offering. Despite their success, Resorts World NYC and Empire City are in the running for three available class III gaming licenses that would allow for live dealer tables and RNG slots.

Confirmed layoffs started taking place last summer, with the off-Strip Rio casino acknowledging labor reductions in August. Three months later, Venetian and Palazzo casinos confirmed they had parted ways with less than 50 employees, mostly management and supervisory-level workers. What is known is that several factors are driving the cuts, with macroeconomic conditions and evolving consumer behaviors at the top of the list.

Wynn/Encore, Cosmopolitan and Stratosphere are the first three casinos that can allow 100% capacity on the gaming floor in Las Vegas. All Caesars, MGM Resorts, Boyd Gaming and Station Casinos properties were also allowed 100% capacity shortly thereafter. This is due to the fact that 80% of their respective employees are vaccinated for COVID-19.

The gaming floor is the epicenter of Las Vegas casinos but so many great Las Vegas memories happen at bars, restaurants and other attractions. Finding the right combination goes a long way to a fun Las Vegas experience.Marc has been gambling since elementary school when he learned about sports betting and playing poker. Visiting casinos started a quest for knowledge from finding the best gaming odds and rewards to get the best bang for the buck on every visit.