Are There Any Tribal Casinos in Las Vegas or Atlantic City?

Are there any tribal casinos in Las Vegas or Atlantic City?

Yes in Las Vegas.

When the Hard Rock Hotel-Casino reopened as the Virgin in March 2021, the casino was managed by Mohegan Gaming, the business arm of Connecticut’s Mohegan Tribe. That was the first incursion of a tribe into Las Vegas and you could, by the letter of the question, call it a "tribal casino." It's been announced that Mohegan will be departing Virgin and Las Vegas by the end of the year.

The Palms has been owned by the San Manuel Band of Mission Indians since late April 2022. When the tribe reopened the Palms for the first time after the COVID shutdown, they became the first Native Americans to actually own, lock, stock, and casino, a Las Vegas property.

Then came Hard Rock International, owned by the Seminole Tribe of Florida, which took over the operations of the Mirage in December 2022 at a cost of nearly $1.1 billion. Though the Seminole don't own the land that the Mirage/Hard Rock sits on or the buildings (those are owned by the landlord, Vici Properties), they're still the first and only tribe to operate a casino on the Las Vegas Strip.

As for Atlantic City, the answer is also yes.

In 2012, just like in Las Vegas in 2021, Resorts on the north end of the Boardwalk became the first Atlantic City casino to be run by a Native American tribe, Mohegan Gaming. Mohegan took over operations six months after the Resorts' co-owner, veteran gambling executive Dennis Gomes, died of complications from kidney dialysis at age 68. Mohegan has filled the gap for the past 12 years, but also like Virgin in Las Vegas, the tribe will end its contract in late 2024, after which Resorts will manage the casino on its own. (Mohegan acquired 10% ownership of Resorts in the 2012 deal, which it will retain.)

Hard Rock Hotel & Casino, the former Taj Mahal, has been owned by Hard Rock International, owned by the Seminole of Florida, since 2018. And yes, Hard Rock owns the operations, the buildings, and the land. The tribe and its partners purchased the site for $50 million, the bargain of the century for the sprawling 17-acre property on the Boardwalk, considering that it cost $1 billion to build and open way back in 1990. Hard Rock spent another $500 million on renovating the facility, getting rid of the garish East Indian theme and turning it into a bona fide rock and roll hotel-casino.

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Reno Faoro Jun-03-2024

bankruptcy

can you list recent foreclosures ? knowing there are many , from 2000 on ?

Randall Ward Jun-03-2024

tribal owned

I prefer to say tribal owned on these because so many people associate tribal with unregulated.  The casinos in Vegas and AC operate under the same rules as everyone else.

Llew Jun-03-2024

OT: Dennis Gomes

Not the Dennis Gomes mentioned above. But there was a Dennis Gomes who used to post trip reports on the LVA website. They were always fun to read. One OT thing that always stood out was how crazy in love he was with his wife and baby. 
When I dealt poker at the Trop in AC, I once emailed Dennis.  I asked, “Are you by any chance my boss?”  He replied “Lol, no but I sometimes wonder if I should use my name to get special treatment.” :-).  
I was devastated when I learned that Dennis was in Tower 2 of the World Trade Center on 9/11.  Although we never met, I felt that I knew him from his trip reports. I felt so bad for his wife and baby. 
Sorry for the downer but seeing the name Dennis Gomes in today’s QoD just brought that memory flooding back.

Question of the Day - 03 June 2024

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