- The Tropicana Las Vegas has previously announced plans to reopen on September 1, 2020.
- The Tropicana is owned by Penn National Gaming and in their August 6 earnings call the company cast some doubt on reopening plans.
- The revised opening date is September 17, 2020.
The Nevada gaming industry has reopened following a two month shutdown due to the COVID-19 pandemic but the tourism based economy continues to struggle. The latest visitor data released by the Las Vegas Convention and Visitors Authority earlier this month is downright brutal. Over a million visitors came to Las Vegas in June 2020 which sounds like a positive until it gets put into context–the 1.065 million visitors represents a drop of 70.5% over June 2019 and includes a 100% drop in convention business.
More than a dozen major gaming properties remain closed as companies try to reduce their capacity in the ‘new normal’ for Las Vegas. Station Casinos has kept three of their properties closed and there is speculation that they might never reopen. MGM Resorts will reopen the Mirage on August 27 but Boyd Gaming has decided to keep the Eldorado Casino in Henderson closed indefinitely. There’s no way to quantify the full damage to the Southern Nevada economy with casinos closing amenities, restaurants and retail shops closing and the area unemployment rate showing only nominal improvement.
Other companies have announced delays to their reopening plans with even more considering reopening delays. One of the major events scheduled for Fall 2020 is the launch of the Virgin Hotel Las Vegas but new reports suggest that the opening of the property on the site of the former Hard Rock Hotel & Casino might be delayed. Earlier this week, one speculated delay in reopening was made official as Penn National Gaming announced that the reopening of the Tropicana Las Vegas will be pushed back.
The originally announced reopening date for the Tropicana was September 1 but in early August those plans were placed in doubt. The Tropicana is already on the market and has been closed since the gaming shutdown ordered by Nevada governor Steve Sisolak in March. It is one of only two Penn National gaming properties that remain closed–Zia Park in New Mexico is the other. The new reopening date for the Tropicana is being reported as September 17 though the property’s website is far less specific saying only that it will ‘open soon’. Penn National spokesman Jeff Morris told the Las Vegas Review Journal that the company decided to delay the reopening of the Trop after “reviewing the impact of COVID-19 on demand for travel and room nights in Las Vegas.”
Despite the announcement of the September 17 reopening date I wouldn’t make any plans to stay at the Tropicana for the immediate future. The fact that the property will remain closed over Labor Day weekend–when an expected boost in Las Vegas visitors is expected–doesn’t bode well for a near term reopening.
