I took a 4-night driving trip to Tahoe-Reno-limited Northern Nevada last week. I'm sharing some commentary, trends, what's new and some pictures, divided in the next several posts. It's been 8-9 years since my last visit, so I'll note some of the changes seen as well. Hope you enjoy.
Driving from Southern California, I crossed the Nevada state line on Hwy 395 and stopped in at Topaz Lodge (and lake). A reliable small-town / small-size casino in business since the 1950s. Only 4 live-gaming tables remain and those tables only operate 5 days a week, after 5:00 pm, or a 1-shift / 40 hours a week operation. Otherwise, it's slots only. Trend: It seems that smaller, non-"big time" casinos are reducing live gaming, or even going to a slots-only operation, due to slack demand, cost for live dealers or both.
Next, I tried to stop into Wa She Shu Casino, moved from its original state border location to a near-Gardnerville stop on Hwy 395. It opened in 2016 with both live games and slots, then closed the live games later. Now, it appears entirely closed – on 2 different days, I tried to enter, only to find the doors locked. Per an internet post, it closed permanently on June 15, 2023. Per additional reports, the Washoe Tribe has purchased the casino. Perhaps a name change and reopening will happen in the future?
In between my Tahoe and Reno stays, I stopped in at a couple of Carson City casinos (Carson Nugget, Cactus Jack's), and others in the vicinity (Fandango, Gold Dust West – CC). No more live games that I could see at the Carson Nugget, but they do have the historic "Awful-Awful" Burger combo in their coffee shop. (For explanation, this burger originated at the upstairs grill at The Nugget in Reno; it gets it name as being "awful big and awful good". It is both, but I've never been able to finish it, including on this trip!
Below: pics of Topaz Lodge and the closed Wa She Shu Casino building.
More "Trip Report" in the following posts.
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There are 4 main hotel-casinos that have anchored South Lake Tahoe for at least 47 years, and one for over 80 years, located just north of the California state line on Highway 50, just a stones' throw from the eastern shore of Lake Tahoe. Each hotel-casino has one or more hotel towers, plus full (live + slots) gaming and multiple amenities like restaurants and shows. Harrah's Tahoe was the largest and busiest on this trip, and seems to be doing well. Just north of Harrah's is Bally's Tahoe, opened in 2021, but in the same building that opened as Park Tahoe (1978) and has been Caesars Tahoe and Montbleu in the interim.
Across the street from Bally's is Golden Nugget Lake Tahoe, where I stayed. GN-LT opened less than 2 years ago (2023), but it began life as Sahara Tahoe (1965) and was High Sierra, Horizon, and Hard Rock-Lake Tahoe in between. In fact, GN-LT is still "de-HardRocking" the property. The floor I stayed on still had the Hard Rock artwork everywhere. They have put a Golden Nugget stamp on the gaming floor and amenities though, and I found the completed areas to be pretty nice overall. Finally, next to GN-LT and across the street from Harrah's is Harvey's Lake Tahoe – soon to change names to Caesars Republic on July 1, 2025. The property is currently a very active construction zone, with all the Harvey's branding and signs removed and one Caesars Republic sign on the exterior. Inside, a lot of temporary walls and closed amenities as the rebranding is in high gear. The gaming floor was mostly slots, with only 8-10 live gaming tables in one area. (The live gaming will likely expand again when construction is finished.) At night, it was plain to see that the older hotel tower (near the street) was unoccupied as that entire tower is being remodeled. The lakeside tower was occupied with guests.
More on the Caesars Republic brand in another post, but Caesars Entertainment, the parent company of both this property and Harrah's too, is bringing in amenities from their current stable of brands – restaurant concepts, a WSOP-branded poker room and more. When you combine the market share of Harrah's and Caesars Republic, the south Tahoe gaming market is around 60%+ controlled by the Caesars parent. Good or bad, you decide? A similar concentration of mega-parent gaming companies occurs is other places too, including the Las Vegas strip, greater Las Vegas, and elsewhere. Regardless, I'm going to miss Harvey's a lot. I've had some good memories there over the years.
Also located in south Tahoe is a Dotty's slots-only location, between Harrah's and Bally's. Also, the Tahoe Nugget is expected to reopen in August 2025 with 140 slots and a sportsbook kiosk to start. No live gaming at first, but who knows? The building has had live games in the past.
One more note about the 4 major south Tahoe properties: Although they have undergone name changes, expansions and remodeling over the years, the original physical plants ("bones") of these properties is 50 years old +/- in every case. At times, the limitations of older properties reveals itself, in contrast to newer ground-up hotel-casinos where implosion-and-rebuild happens instead. I'm not complaining, but just observing.
Below: pics of the hotels, plus a graphic of all the Caesars stable of brands, from their website.
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Crystal Bay and Incline Village are located about 40 minutes north, at the northeastern corner of Lake Tahoe at the north California state line. Crystal Bay is home to Jim Kelly's Nugget (slots only now) and the Crystal Bay Club (mostly slots, but hanging in there with about 8 table games). The live games weren't open when I was there, mid-morning, but appeared to operate regularly. Unfortunately, the Tahoe Biltmore, across the street, has closed permanently in 2022.
In Incline Village, the Grand Lodge Casino (2016) is nicely appointed, including an extensive gaming floor with slots and numerous live tables. What began as the Sierra Tahoe-Incline Village (1965), before owner changes as Incline Village (Hotel), Kings Castle, Hyatt and Hyatt Regency, has been well maintained among the pine trees in Incline Village over the past 60 years.
A last bit of good news – The long-shuttered Cal-Neva Resort is showing signs of life again as there is active construction occurring on the property. Since closing in 2013, the property has been fenced off and inactive. The plan is to open a hotel and wellness spa/retreat with rooms and villas, all by 2026, the 100th anniversary of the property. While a few historical elements will be kept intact, it doesn't appear that gaming will be part of the plan going forward. More info is available online – just google it.
Below: pics around Crystal Bay and photos of Cal-Neva Resort construction site.
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Of course, downtown Reno was ground-zero for legal gambling, even more than Las Vegas, going back to legalization in Nevada in 1931. Virginia Street and the famous Reno Arch overlooked Harold's Club, Harrah's and many, many more gambling establishments over the years, from sawdust- to carpet-joints. The action is much less nowadays; you "gotta get your mind right" (a la Cool Hand Luke) about today's Reno downtown, if you don't want to be disappointed. But there's still some nuggets to enjoy about downtown. First, the Eldorado / Silver Legacy / Circus Circus-Reno trio of connected casinos is impressive in the number of gaming square feet and number of hotel rooms in one place. No more live gaming at CC-Reno that I could see, but still impressive, as part of the Caesars Entertainment stable of properties.
South of the Reno Arch, many of the former casinos are closed – either boarded up or converted to hotel only or other uses. Sad, but that's the reality. The venerable Club Cal-Neva still stands though, since 1948. It has 3-stories of gaming, including slots and live gaming. I even did pretty well at a $10-minimum / single deck / 3:2 blackjack table there – where ya gonna find those features in fancy properties?
Elsewhere around downtown is the original Reno arch, next to the Automobile Museum (some of Bill Harrah's former auto collection is there). Also, the J Resort (formerly, Sands Regency), is nicely remodeled as of its 2023 opening.
I also managed to check out the Legends Bay Casino, built new and opened in 2022, as part of a suburban outdoor mall complex in Sparks. A nice locals-focused property that also caters to tourists, and with a mix of slots and live games.
I hit a few other casinos in Reno, including the Peppermill, Atlantis, Grand Sierra Resort and others, though I didn't make it to the large Sparks Nugget property. I stayed at GSR, so more on it in the next post. One interesting note about the Peppermill & Atlantis – I played in both poker rooms, and found that, for the chip-mold collector, there are 5 different molds in play concurrently at these two poker rooms: Paulson/H&C, GameCo, Game On, "PK" and Icon! (See pic below of the five $1 chips.)
Below: Pics from downtown Reno, including gaming properties, the Reno arch, and two closed casino signs that survive (The Nugget and Horseshoe-Reno).
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I stayed at Grand Sierra Resort for 3 nights – a first class property, with nice amenities, a large gaming floor with slots and live games and much more. The largest hotel-casino in Reno I'm told. Well maintained; busy, particularly on the weekend. However, there was more poker room action in the Peppermill and Atlantis, as least when I was there. The trend for electronic games replacing some live games (blackjack, craps, roulette) was evident, with both electronic and live versions coexisting on the floor. Even some "hybrid" games. It's a trend throughout the industry it seems.
I'll give style points to their live roulette tables – in addition to traditional dark wood wheels, GSR has two Ferrari-red wheels. Quite stylish, IMO. See pics below.
Some expansion news on the horizon at GSR: According to a Bellman I was chatting with, GSR will be breaking ground on a new hotel tower in July, at the north end of the property. It will also include an enclosed "stadium" for concerts and shows, sports contests and other events. About 2 years of construction ahead. The big get bigger!
Below: GSR and the red roulette wheel
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Back to the Harvey's conversion to Caesars Republic: The Caesars Entertainment parent company created the Caesars Republic brand / concept and first used it in naming a non-gaming hotel in Scottsdale Arizona, a Hilton Hotel. If you check out this Scottdale property online, you'll see some of the Caesars-affiliated restaurants that appear in other Caesars properties. Nationwide, in total, the suite of Caesars brands encompass about 50 casinos across America.
With the Caesars Republic-Lake Tahoe rebrand, there will be Gordon Ramsey and Vanderpump restaurants and a WSOP-branded poker room, among other Caesars-associated operators. A $160 million renovation, the construction will be ongoing for a year, into mid-2026, with the public spaces and the older tower rooms all part of the remodel.
The overall Caesars Republic concept seems to draw on Roman history – The Roman Republic existed for about 5 centuries, until 27 BC, including the reign of Julius Caesar. When Augustus Caesar took over, he became Emperor, and the Roman Empire period began. (At least that's the quick Roman History for Dummies version.)
Regarding the wolf logo, it's supposed to be a nod to "La Lupa", the she-wolf that raised the twins Romulus and Remus, the mythological founders of Rome. More info is on the Caesars Republic-Scottsdale website, if interested.
As to why the wolf logo has 3-color racing stripes (see sign pic below), I have no idea!!
END
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