While parts of the Las Vegas Strip and the Fremont St. section of downtown feel like the land that time forgot, change happens where you can't see it. The flashy neon still shines and fake showgirls fill the streets, while actual showgirls no longer exist.
Many Las Vegas resort casinos used to offer tickets to classic showgirl productions as a perk for lower-level steady gamblers. But much like the $0.99 shrimp cocktail, showgirl productions have been swept aside, and no actual showgirls still perform in Las Vegas on or off the Strip.
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Now, a few months of declining revenues have led to another change to what many would consider a non-negotiable part of Las Vegas: Many resorts are cutting back on live dealers for table games, while two properties have cut them entirely.
Dealers are part of the Las Vegas experience and, in many cases, part of the show. Binions, for example, a downtown Fremont St. staple, uses busty women in low-cut tops as dealers toward the street-side opening of its property.
Once you work your way inside, the dealers get more classic, with many dating back somewhere between 40 and 60 years.
At The D, which shares an owner with the Golden Nugget, you not only have younger, mostly female dealers wearing push-up bras, but those same dealers also rotate into a shift dancing on tables.
Image source: Shutterstock
Golden Nugget, Casino Royale cut all dealers
When you visit most Florida casinos, you find that dealers are actually pretty rare. You might get a few at the nicer properties, but most table games like roulette and blackjack are automated.
That's cheaper for the casino, but it robs something from the game. Dealers are part of the fun, and a good one can also help steer players away from doing dumb things, but during the week in Florida, crowds don't really justify the expense.
The Golden Nugget, a classic Fremont St. downtown Las Vegas casino, has come to that same conclusion and has cut all of its dealers. Casino Royale, a minor property on the Las Vegas Strip, has done the same thing.
It's easy to see why Casino Royale made the change. The casino is a tiny one situated in the middle of the Caesars Entertainment (CZR) zone of hotels, and it has always used freeplay promotions as a way to entice Strip walkers inside as they walked between Caesars properties.
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Slated to close and be replaced by a traditional high-rise megaresort, the small, Best Western-topped casino probably does not have the crowds to justify any added expenses.
Golden Gate making the same move, however, is much more of a blow to Vegas tradition.
A Las Vegas tradition fades
Digital games have become more common all over Las Vegas, but few people expected that traditional table games would be phased out at a major property.
The Golden Gate — owned by Circa Hospitality Group, along with Circa and The D, all Fremont St. properties — has done the unthinkable.
“We recently shared the news Golden Gate casino will close its lone remaining craps table, but we missed the forest for the trees. The casino has confirmed it is, in fact, removing all its live table games. In our lifetime. Golden Gate,” Vital Vegas reported.
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Circa hospitality has tried to spin this as positive.
“Big changes are coming to the Golden Gate, and we couldn’t be more excited. As the oldest hotel in Las Vegas, we’ve always embraced the future, and now we’re reimagining our casino floor with a high-energy electronic table games pit unlike anything downtown has seen,” it shared in a media statement.
That's a bit like replacing all your bartenders with vending machines and selling it as an exciting new change.
Circa Hospitality did share a little bit of good news.
“All of our table games team members at the Golden Gate are being offered roles at Circa or the D, or the opportunity to explore new departments within the company,” it shared.
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