Palms and Rio are located across the street from one another just off the Vegas Strip on Flamingo Road. In addition to the location, the two casinos are connected in another way. Both Las Vegas casinos will have new owners and operators in 2022.
Caesars sold Rio to Dreamscape Companies LLC in 2019. The lease between the two parties should end just before the new year. While the name will remain the same, the property will see some changes.
Earlier this year, Red Rock Resorts (Station Casinos) sold Palms to the San Manuel Band of Mission Indians (San Manuel). The company operates Yaamava’ Resort & Casino at San Manuel in California.
The Palms sale to San Manuel should be finalized before the year is over. There isn’t a specific opening date yet but San Manuel is targeting reopening Palms in the first half of 2022.
The new owner and operator of each casino could bring new and improved blackjack games to casinos just off the main casino corridor in Las Vegas.
Rio All-Suite Hotel & Casino Plans
Dreamscape will take over Rio either just before or just after the holiday season. The company is keeping the name but not much more. The plan is for a full makeover of the casino and hotel. There should be plenty of cosmetic work throughout the property over the next couple of years.
Not all changes will happen to Rio at once. The first thing potential guests will notice is that the hotels will be operated by Hyatt. The first change is that the hotel inside Rio will be a Hyatt Regency. There could be other Hyatt brands down the line.
Dreamscape has not revealed who will operate the casino and sportsbook. The first big casino change most will notice is the absence of the World Series Of Poker (WSOP). That will move to a new Caesars venue next year. This should be announced after WSOP is finished in a couple of weeks.
The new casino operator might change some of the blackjack games to be more off-strip friendly. Rio is one of the better Caesars casinos with a variety of blackjack options.
The new casino operator could keep only the 3:2 blackjack games. In a perfect world, the new Rio casino operators will ditch the 6:5 blackjack games.
There are bound to be even more changes for Rio over the next couple of years. You can find the initial hotel plans from Hyatt here.
Palms Hotel & Casino Plans
There shouldn’t be as many changes to Palms as Rio. Station Casinos purchased Palms in 2016. The property received a nearly $700 million overhaul over the next two years.
Palms finished renovations in 2019 and closed in 2020 due to Covid-19. The property was open for less than a year before closing.
Palms should reopen in 2022 under new management. San Manuel won’t reveal much information until the deal closes. However, the company did tease the Las Vegas Review-Journal with some changes.
The sportsbook will receive an update and there will be a new rooftop pool deck at Palms. Some of the restaurants will change but not all. Most of the work for San Manuel will be behind the scenes since Palms was only open for less than a year after renovations.
One thing we do know is that San Manuel will be focused on the Las Vegas locals community more than tourists. Obviously, both can visit but this presentation could be particularly good news for blackjack players.
When Station Casinos took over Palms there were 6:5 blackjack games added near the dayclub/nightclub KAOS. This attraction was targeting tourists much more than locals and won’t be reopening. Taking eyes off of tourists should be good news for blackjack players.
A small gaming pit located near KAOS featured 6:5 blackjack games and 000 roulette. This small area will likely be removed. Even if this pit remains when the casino reopens it’s likely the blackjack games will be better.
San Manuel targets locals by offering fair games at its Yaamava’ casino in California. Look for Palms to reopen in 2022 with ample 3:2 blackjack games.
