I wrote in a separate thread about the deterioration of video poker at Harrah’s Reno. They’ve rearranged the furniture again, and the number of machines in the casino, both VP and reels, has really thinned out. It looks like a death spiral. You know, the standard thing that a retail sales company does in a chapter 11 bankruptcy is close or sell off underperforming locations, and Harrah’s Reno certainly qualifies. So I don’t know that there is a great future in trying to generate Harrah’s Reno offers in any case.
As to the future of Reno generally, here’s what I predict. I think that Harrah’s will close in the not too distant future. I doubt that anyone will want to invest the money for the extensive renovations reportedly needed in the hotel. I think that Cal Neva will hang on for two to four years only, and will continue to go downhill after its neighbor Harrah’s closes. The new owner, Mr. Siri, has clearly decided to put no money into the place, and run it into the ground. I think that the Siena will become a non-gaming hotel, as most are predicting, and will slowly bleed more money in that role. I think that Boomtown will close down, too, in a few years. The hotel is in really bad shape.
I think that these closures will ensure the health of most of the remaining casinos in Reno. Reno continues to suffer from and work through the effects of the opening of big Indian casinos in California, and possibly lower overall demand for gambling post-recession. Some further shrinkage of capacity in Reno remains a necessity.
However, I question the ability of one or two of the small locals places
to continue to offer table games in the future. There has been an ongoing change in the industry for several decades. The overhead required to operate table games has been going up and up, with increasingly burdensome regulations concerning surveillance and other matters. This is making it uneconomical for most casinos with only a few
tables to continue to operate their pits.
I also question the viability of the Sparks Nugget (no longer known as John Ascuaga’s Nugget). They delayed years longer than they should have in making renovations, and what they’re doing now is pretty much on the cheap. Not that I can really blame the new owners for that decision. Closing the lower floor and bringing everything together on the main floor, to generate more energy, was definitely the right thing to do. There is still a lot of excess space in the building. I can’t imagine that they often fill up that huge hotel. They sold off the Courtyard. The level of table game action in the casino is pathetic. In the eyes of the gambling public, the Nugget has been passed by due to aggressive investments in the Grand Sierra and the Peppermill. The Nugget remains in large part a tired, uninviting property. Downtown Sparks is an unremarkable place, and as of today the Nugget would have to be considered to be in a bad location. A good recovery would be a near miracle. It’s not clear that the demand exists for either the casino floor space or the hotel rooms. Maybe the Nugget will eventually become a smaller slots-only place, relying principally on selling hotel rooms to non-gamblers. They already do a considerable business in conventions and in renting rooms to airline personnel.
I think that on the erstwhile central block of Virginia Street, the Little
Nugget and Siri’s (oddly enough, owned by the same Mr. Siri), will do all right, because of their proximity to good music venues, and having excellent cheap food. However, the area could become a scary black hole
with all of the empty space developing around there.
At
some point, the city fathers, I hope, will attract investment in wholesale redevelopment of downtown. It is surrounded by some interesting and lively districts, and with Reno’s growing population, I think that eventually there will be economic support for such redevelopment. It’s going to have to be a lot better, though, than what has been done with the former Ramada Regency and Sundowner hotels, which
look like scary flophouses, almost as bad as the Lakemill Lodge across from the Siena.
On the bright side, there’s still a bit of fun to be had. And I would not call the Indian places in California “fun.”