They might … but at least a dozen phone calls to La Bayou/Mermaids General Manager Rudy Nino failed to yield any response whatsoever. All we were able to glean is that ownership is focused on a renovation of its Glitter Gulch strip club.
Given the recent shutdowns of hotel towers in Las Vegas, including Binion’s Gambling Hall & Hotel, it’s doubtful that there will be demand for more hotel rooms in Downtown anytime soon. Also, both La Bayou and Mermaids are pretty down-market casinos, known for deep-fried Oreo cookies and $1 frozen bananas -- hardly places that would fit into the boutique-hotel niche. With 345 slot machines between them, they could hardly generate the casino revenue necessary to sustain a hotel operation, so it’s pretty darn likely that both La Bayou and Mermaids will continue to go dark between 1 a.m. and 9 a.m. on weekdays, 2 a.m. to 9 a.m. on weekends. But that still leaves plenty of reputable gambling options to choose from on the graveyard shift Downtown.
