Ask the Slot Expert: The Shape of Las Vegas Casinos to Come?

There was a period that lasted about five years in which one or two or three new casinos opened on the strip every year. It started in 1996 with The Stratosphere (The Strat) and Monte Carlo (Park MGM). New York-New York opened in 1997 and Bellagio in 1998. There was a triple-header in 1999 with the openings of Mandalay Bay and The Venetian just two months apart and then Paris four months later. The New Aladdin (Planet Hollywood) closed out the run, opening in 2000.

That was an exciting time in Las Vegas. I went to many of these properties on opening night or shortly thereafter.

It's been a long time since there have been so many openings at once, but Las Vegas was just treated to two openings a few weeks apart. One new casino is on the strip and the other is off-strip, targeting the locals market.

After a two-week delay from the initially announced opening date, the Durango casino opened on December 5. Located on Durango Drive by the 215, Durango is part of the Station Casinos portfolio of casinos that primarily target the locals market.

Back on the strip, the Fountainebleau Las Vegas has been in various states of development since 2005 and, in what seems like a Christmas miracle, finally opened on December 13. At 737 feet tall with 68 floors, it's the tallest building in Nevada.

I wonder if the video poker and dining options at these two casinos show us what to expect from future casinos. Let's start with dining -- buffets, specifically.

Neither property has a buffet. They both have food courts -- Sorry. I guess malls have food courts. Durango and Fountainebleau both have more upscale-sounding food halls.

Fountainebleau's food hall is called Promenade and currently has seven outlets: Break, the coffee shop; Nona, sandwiches and salads; Bar Ito, sushi; Capon's Burgers, named for the chef not the castrated male chicken; and the self-explanatory choices of El Bagel; Miami Slice; and Roadside Taco.

Durango's Eat Your Heart Out hall of foods currently has 11 "enticing culinary offerings:" Irv's Burgers; Prince Street Pizza, Ai Pono Cafe, authentic Hawaii street food; Uncle Paulie's, deli; Fiorella, Italian; Yu-Or-Mi Sushi; Shang Artisan Noodle; Nielsen's Frozen Custard; Oyster Bar, no connection with the Oyster Bar in Grand Central Terminal; Vesta coffee; and DRNK, not a typo. You can click on the link and watch the commercial that has been making me salivate for the past month when I fast forward through it during Jeopardy. The pepperoni pizza in the beginning looks fantastic.

Two new casinos. Two new food halls. No new buffets.

Given that casinos lose money on the moderately priced buffets of moderate quality, I don't expect to see any new moderate/moderate buffets in the future. Not even in the locals market, which is dominated by two companies (Station Casinos and Boyd Gaming).

How about the video poker? It's been a while since I was able to play single-hand dollar 9/6 Jacks at Treasure Island, Caesars Palace and the Venetian. According to www.vpfree2.com, the Fountainebleau did not bring any good video poker to the strip. It's best paytable is 8/5 Bonus Poker.

Station Casinos usually has a few positive expectation paytables and quite a few "Up to 99.8%" paytables in its casinos (Red Rock, Green Valley Ranch, Palace Station, Santa Fe Station). I expected to see the same mix at Durango.

Not now. Maybe not yet. Maybe not ever.

Like Fountainebleau, the best paytable at Durango is 8/5 BP.

Is 8/5 BP the best we can expect for single-hand dollar video poker in the future? Even for locals casinos?

Given that Station Casinos has plans to double its footprint by 2030, that might be the case. I'm surprised, though, that the regulators have allowed the locals market to be dominated by two companies.

If you would like to see more non-smoking areas on slot floors in Las Vegas, please sign my petition on change.org.