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Gaming Guru
  Full circle moment for new Palms Casino Resort GM3 November 2025
 Kevin Glass is the General Manager of the Las Vegas casino resort. Kevin Glass has been part of that story from the start. He joined the opening team in 2001 and returned in 2021 as Vice President of Hospitality when the San Manuel Gaming and Hospitality Authority took over the property. In September, he was promoted to General Manager. More than two decades later, the 48-year-old California native says it’s surreal to come full circle. We spoke with him recently about his role, the new Link Up Lounge — the latest addition to the gaming floor — and what’s next for the resort located just west of the Strip on Flamingo Road. You’ve been part of the Palms story since the beginning. What’s it like for you now to be settling in as General Manager of the property? Very super proud to be here. Gosh, looking back 24 years ago, I was a young 20-year-old kid, and when I got here, one of my first projects was designing the call center, which ironically is now two offices down from me. Talk about a blast from the past. It’s just crazy to be here, to be on the same floor. There are people that I run into still today who I’ve known for 24 years — Day 1 employees who I see on the floor — and it’s a great experience. As the first Las Vegas casino fully owned by a Native American tribe, how does the Palms' new guest experience reflect the signature hospitality approach established at its sister property, the Yaamava’ Resort & Casino in Southern California? There’s a lot of tribal influence here on property. And the tribe itself really takes pride in making sure that we understand the culture and where they’ve come from. One of our board members, Carla Rodriguez, holds quarterly fireside chats. She comes in and explains the history of the tribe. Last time her son came, they were showing us artifacts — from baskets to shoes. Just really amazing to think about the history of where they were and how they’ve become the most successful tribal gaming company, I believe, in all of North America. When I met the tribe, one of the reasons I decided to come over was that their values from a tribal perspective really aligned with my personal values. I remember thinking to myself, “Man, I want to go work for this family.” I was intrigued by their story and what they stood for.
What’s changed most about Palms since you first worked here, and what’s stayed the same? When I was here in ’01, when the property was opened, the physical landscape was pretty different. The layout of the slot floor is different. The pool is different. When I left, the Fantasy Tower was just being completed, so that didn’t even exist when I left. I’m super proud of what the product and the property look like today. It’s taken us a little bit of time to get where we are now, but I think we’ve got the most amazing slot floor in the entire city, and I’m very proud of that. The team has worked really, really hard to leverage relationships with the slot manufacturers. We really pride ourselves on guest service, and I think we can go toe-to-toe with anybody in the city in terms of overall hospitality. You’ve worked at several properties across Las Vegas, including a stint as GM at Downtown Grand Las Vegas. What have you learned over the years that you bring to this position? I was originally hired at Palms as the Vice President of Hospitality, so hospitality was literally in my title. I grew up on the hotel side, so hospitality has been just a part of my DNA since I started at the front desk at the Monte Carlo back in 1997. Downtown Grand was a different environment. Downtown altogether is just different from being off-Strip. Here, we compete with our neighbors, like Boyd and Station Casinos. But at the end of the day, I’m a servant leader. I’m here to work for the employees who are here, and I spend as much time as I possibly can on the floor talking to employees and customers, because that’s really what it’s all about. My main role is to provide the best service that we can here and the best value to our customers.
Let’s talk about the new Link Up Lounge. This first-of-its-kind space, created in partnership with Aristocrat Gaming, features nearly 50 of the most popular linked progressive slot titles, all in one place. How did this idea come about, and what makes it unique? Our guests love linked progressive games, especially Aristocrat titles. The idea was to create a space where that excitement could live and breathe, offering our guests a dedicated area with energy and big-win potential. We worked with our slot manufacturers and came up with the idea of the Link Up Lounge. Everybody has slot machines, right? We decided to create something visually different. It’s an amazing visual, and it really grabs your attention as you’re walking through the slot floor. People stop, they look, and they’ve got to go over and play. It’s a real fun experience. How do you want guests to feel when they visit the Link Up Lounge, and what sets the experience apart from other casinos? We have very quick, attentive, great cocktail servers who make sure you’re taken care of. Our slot ambassadors are the friendliest people you’re going to find in the business. From my perspective, every casino up and down the Strip and off-Strip has slot machines, but at the end of the day, it’s about the experience. You see it, you hear it, you smell it. We pay attention to all of those things to make sure it’s clean and safe, which you don’t always get at some other places. It’s hard to do, so we pride ourselves on that. How important are linked jackpots and progressive games to Palms’ overall gaming strategy? Slot machine technology is so far advanced now. It’s crazy to think about what a gaming floor looked like 25 years ago. We spend a lot of time working with manufacturers. Our goal is to have the best slot product available on our floor, and I believe that we do. As you look ahead to your first full year as GM, what are you most focused on? My goal is to be a leader and make sure that employees have what they need to do their job. We’ve got the right room product, the right restaurants. On the gaming side, we’re rolling out progressive Pai Gow poker and new games like Mystery Card Roulette and Crapless Craps. From my perspective, it’s about variety. It’s about having something everybody wants to play. We have 3:2 blackjack here, which not all the local properties have, and we have $5 blackjack and $5 craps. We want to provide something for everybody. If you look at our gaming floor, it shows. I’m super humble and super proud to be here. And I can’t wait for 2026. Related Links
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