Laughlin River Lodge aka River Palms

When in Laughlin the "old" River Palms hotel and casino was so nice. Right on the Colorado River, nice restaurants, nice rooms, etc. it suddenly got very shabby, closed and now is the Laughlin River Lodge.

Whoa......what ever did they do??? The casino part is now Dottys and does anyone else get the feeling it is weird??? Ever see end tables and lamps beside slot machines.......gingham tablecloths on side tables......no table games....actually a real eerie feeling in there.

The once exciting downstairs is just a huge empty room (guess they hold occasional sales there)

The lovely buffet is only open on weekends but Denny's is on the river walk level.

Very disappointed to say the least! Anyone else have these feelings?

Agree completely! Used to love the old River Palms, but no point in walking, or driving, down to this dump.

Glad you know what I mean......weird in there, right???

Our new place to stay (since they give us free rooms) is Tropicana Express. Sometimes we stay at Aquarius too.

Ever give the Avi a chance....they have $3 let it ride there!!!!!!

Heading there on Wednesday for three nites before heading to Mesa Verde, etc. then back to Vegas for four nites, two at Sams Town and two at Four Queens.

A brief history of The Laughlin River Lodge:

"The resort was created by Las Vegas real estate developer John Midby . It opened in 1984 as Sam's Town Gold River, later shortened to Gold River. A 25-story, 778-room hotel tower was opened on May 22, 1990. It was operated by Boyd Gaming until their contract was ended on March 31, 1991.
Gold River filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection in 1996. Businessman Allen Paulson took ownership of the reorganized company a year later, having paid an estimated $28 million for the property's $90 million in debt. It was quietly renamed as the River Palms in June 1998 and held a grand opening that October. The hotel underwent a major renovation in 1999.
Paulson died in 2000 and Columbia Sussex bought the property from his estate in 2004. After Columbia's gaming businesses went into bankruptcy, Tropicana Entertainment emerged on March 8, 2010 with most of the company's casinos, including the River Palms.
On May 1, 2013, Tropicana agreed to sell the River Palms for $7 million to M1 Gaming, owner of Boomtown Reno, but the sale never went through. On July 2, 2014, Tropicana agreed to sell the River Palms for $6.75 million to the owners of Dotty's."

Ref: wikipedia

On Dotty's:

"Craig Estey made his move into Nevada in 1995, gaining approval from the Nevada Gaming Commission for six Dotty's bars built along the model of the Oregon chain. By 2002, there were eight Dotty's locations in the state, and the chain was pushing into Northern Nevada with three planned locations in Reno and Carson City.
In August 2013, Dotty's agreed to acquire the Hacienda Hotel and Casino near Boulder City, its first full hotel-casino. In July 2014, Dotty's agreed to buy the River Palms in Laughlin."

Ref: wikipedia

DonDiego has fond memories of Sam's Town Gold River/River Palms. When he resided in West Texas/New Mexico/Arizona [DonDiego had to keep moving, . . .] he'd visit Nevada pretty regularly. Why heckfire, from Prescott there were regularly scheduled one-day bus excursions where the casino comps covered the bus fare.

Back in the good old days they had decent ["Reno rules"] blackjack and reasonable slot returns. And DonDiego really enjoyed the "gold mine/mill " motif of the original Sam's Town Gold River construction and decor. He recalls participating in lots of blackjack tournaments, all run efficiently and fair.

Things change. Sometimes DonDiego wishes they didn't.

The River Palms was always a dive as long as I was familiar with it. Dotty's is definitely not an upgrade- that's the little dive casino-chain you find in every low rent plaza in Vegas.

Why is it the properties off the river seem to do better than the properties on it? Aquarius is the only River-front property that's worth while and lets be honest - that place is kinda run-down too.

Trop has been going downhill, as well. For gambling, I prefer Riverside and Edgewater. Rooms,I stay at Harrah's. I just cracked 70 in the 99 bottles promo.