Ever since Station Casinos announced it wouldn’t reopen four of its Las Vegas casinos immediately after the COVID-19 shutdown, there’s been buzz about the casinos being sold.
Now, we hear two of the locals casinos may have been purchased by Boyd Gaming. They are Fiesta Rancho and Fiesta Henderson.
“Fiesta” is Spanish for “Do not believe everything you read in photo captions.”
This rumor hasn’t been confirmed, but those are the only ones worth sharing, really.
The other two casinos in limbo are Texas Station and Palms. The folks at @WeKnowVegas floated the rumor Texas Station would go to the owners of Dotty’s, a chain of slot parlors. Which is rude, because we hate when anyone knows anything before we do.
Station Casinos has said Palms isn’t for sale, but we’ve heard otherwise.
While Boyd Gaming doesn’t confirm or deny rumors, it’s interesting timing for this chatter to surface as the company recently raised $600 million, for what that’s worth.
Boyd Gaming already has a number of popular locals casinos in Las Vegas, but the more the merrier.
Station Casinos was already in a tough spot prior to the COVID-19 crisis as Palms and Palace Station had massive investments with disappointing returns.
As always, we’ll watch to see if this rumor pans out. If it does, we’ll say our crystal ball never fails. If not, we were drunk, which gives us plausible deniability for pretty much everything.
Very interesting!!
It will be good for stations to divest themselves of these two cesspools.
Fiesta Rancho is most certainly NOT a cesspool. I don’t see how you can even say that (I don’t know anything about Fiesta Henderson). However, the Fertittas do seem to make some less-than-brilliant decisions. One of the worst decisions was getting rid of Gardunos and replacing it with the stupid Culichi Town at Fiesta Rancho. I was heartbroken (stomach-broken) when they killed Gardunos.
You are absolutely right. Garduno’s was one of the few things George Maloof was right about and still miss the place with I’m sure others. That Culichi Town was, to me, a horrible decision to be called a restaurant. Last, I do think Fiesta Rancho for the most part was a fairly decent hotel/casino, clean and with a good buffet. I will miss Wing It! – the best Chicken wings I ever had.
I was at Santa Fe Station about 9 days ago. I’m walking around and suddenly I see a familiar and friendly face: one of the top security guys I had known from Fiesta Rancho now doing security at Santa Fe.
We said our hellos and chatted a bit. Though I wish I had been more inquisitive and less focused on finding the next machine for me to lose on, he did tell me a couple nuggets of info that I will share here.
One, he told me that after the March lockdown, Fiesta laid off everyone except a small crew of employees who proceeded immediately to remove every single slot machine from the property. For whatever business and/or gaming regulation reasons, they took out every machine….
Second, he told me that Fiesta had rid itself of the failed Culichi Town and was creating a new Guadalajara restaurant — and a new adjacent bar — in its place. (There is also a Guadalajara at Sam’s Town.) It either had just opened or was just about to open when the lockdown hit. Though anything is better than Culichi, nothing can be as wonderful as Garduno’s was.
Lastly, Jerry, I have good news. Last I checked, there is a Wingin’ It at Sunset Station — so you can still get those wings you loved!
Fiesta rancho is a dive in the ghetto
Flu season is over, time to buy up casinos and celebrate the end of the flu.
Raising $600 million to buy those 2 shitholes, Boyd will have $599,500,000 left!
The reason they are “cesspools” and “shitholes ” is because Stations did very little during the time they owned them to change that. It’s like driving by a poorly maintained home and blaming the house because the owner has little pride of ownership. Instead they chose to ink 60M deals with people to play records (see the DJ agreements inked by The Palms). Not exactly smart.
Fiesta Henderson, is like Stations step child! they haven’t put much Money or changed anything besides adding the Theater, Since the days it was “The Reserve”. It is a a great spot, with great Employees, Just needs to be updated.
A few years back I talked with employees who worked at the time of the transition and they said Stations ruined the Reserve.
NDdirt you are absolutely correct.
How anyone could say that Fiesta Rancho was not a cesspool I can’t phathom. They still had that “delightful” carpet since the day they opened, it stunk like stale bowling shoes, the majority of the good employees were gone because they treated them like crazy, and it was clearly visible on the ones that still worked there. The hooked in the parking lot were straight out of a “runaway-heroin injected -by-a-pimp-the second they arrived at a port authority” 1970’s movie and the place was riddled with them. You could time your watch on how many were escorted out of there..and the hotel could have had a sign that read “Bate’s” instead. Maybe Boyd will bring it up to par and it will be nice again to have a lo c al hotel that really does “love locals”, station’s big time crap campaign that was the biggest bunch of bullshit that should have read “station’s screws locals”. If Dotty’s buys Texas and Boyd Fiesta, North Rancho is going to be “the place to be” .. I hope the rumors are true!!!!!
that should have said treated them like crap not crazy, damned autocorrect..
(I share your typo pain.)
Joseph, I appreciate your detailed explanation of Fiesta Rancho, but I am wondering when was the last time you were there? I knew it well 3 years ago because I stayed there A LOT while my house was being re-stribbed. I found the Fiesta, including the employees and the vibe (and the cleanliness, security, etc), to be delightful. The guys behind the buffet always had a smile and would go the extra mile. The Romaine was almost always leafy and exquisite. (They can keep the cheez-whiz enchiladas. Yuck.)
Now, if you’re looking for a real armpit, I highly recommend Texas Station next door.
Typical buy for Dirty Dotty’s. Worst company ever.
Great sense of humor. I hope they sell. Stations Casino’s state that they Love locals? To me they have one of the worst player’s club promotions for locals. Also I have been here for over 17 years and I have never been picked for their drawings or money. Seems like the same people always get picked. They also pay their employees crap.
Locals are very loyal to the Fiesta casinos. Hopefully Boyd Gaming will treat them better. Miss and love their movie theatres and buffet.
I’m really happy about having Boyd buy the Fiestas. Have loved Boyd since my days in the 1980 to present playing at the Stardust, Mainstreet Station, California Club & the Orleans. Some of the BEST video poke machines around. I hope this becomes a reality.
Boyd will run them into the ground and treat the employees like trash like they always do!!
i can’t picture dottys buying a major casino. they are quite profitable but still it makes more sense that stations buys dottys than anything.
Dottys is a ghetto casino. Bottom feeder due to selling of cheap cigarettes and liquor. They have never taken care of their employees and cliques throughout the establishment. No one works together. HR is non/existent and the President is trash. She will never care about anyone but herself. She hides from employees.
I have been a patron of Texas Station for 17 years and once in a while I would pop into Fiesta Rancho.
And the last 5 years I was noticing that Stations was letting both properties get run down. They wanted to
unload Texas Station since the housing crisis of 2008 but Mama Fertitta wouldn’t let the land go..as she
still owned it. Boyd Gaming was all set to purchase 3 years ago and then when they found out that Mama
wanted an additional 20 million for the land the deal was off…I figured something was in the works since
months ago the boys were able to buy the land from Mama. Rumor about 10 months ago was that MGM
was going to buy it and then that deal fell through. During the last 5 years I noticed the property going
downhill at an alarming rate….no upgrades of any kind. And the demographics for the area hasn’t
warranted any kind of millions being poured into the property ! The land is huge and if the price is
right I think someone will jump on it. I too can’t believe that Dottys would get into such a big undertaking
as Texas Station. I will miss the many friends I made there the last 17 years..I played Bingo there
everyday. The workers were truly friendly and I feel bad they all lost their jobs if it comes to fruition
that Texas may have been sold. As far as Fiesta ..I went in there to play bingo but did not like the
Casino very much and the staff was very unfriendly.
Everybody hoping that Boyd will “save” the Fiestas by buying them is crazy. Boyd is just trying to do what it wanted to do during the Great Recession, buy Stations, bit by bit. I’m sure that some locals will be happy with the change in ownership, but to be honest, Boyd does very little to improve/alter the casinos that they buy. I work at Aliante, and Boyd really hasn’t done much to change our property, mixed blessing maybe, since we were profitable during our private ownership.
Right after Boyd Gaming acquired Aliante I attended the annual stockholders’ meeting there and was offered a private tour of the entire property. I really can’t say that I saw anything that appeared to need changing.
To Jenn. Thank you! Guadalajara at Boulder was pretty good but nothing like Garduno’s. I still get chills thinking about Culichi Town. And that big Stations sign that says “We Love Locals”, what they really meant to say was, “We Love Locals’ Money”. Anyhow, when George Maloof owned the Fiesta, I met him a few times when we were exercising at a Gold’s Gym and he often mentioned how he and family treasured Garduno’s. I wish someone could open a Garduno’s and also back a few years there was a Cabo Mexican grill at Palace Station (and later at Santa Fe) that was excellent. Well Jenn, I better to get off this food thing as I’m getting hungry. As for your kind mention of Wing IT!, traveling to Sunset Station is like going on vacation out of state for us as we live in the far Northwest. – however, I feel the day is coming soon when hunger overrules rationale and we gas up and go! Thanks again. Jerry
Hi Jerry. I keep thinking about you — specifically about your gastronomic longings. Though I can’t give you Garduno’s (you have to go to Albuquerque for that), I can highly recommend: 505 Southwestern (brand) Hatch Valley Flame Roasted Green Chile. (Perhaps you’re already familiar.) You can get a 16-oz jar at Walmart for about $4 (in Mexican food aisle; also can be found at most other grocers). Find some recipes here: https://www.505southwestern.com/recipes. Tip: After opening, store the jar upside-down in your fridge; contents will keep much longer (really, it works). Even if you only garnish your eggs with this green chile, you will be a happier man. 🙂 Jenn
FYI to all:
Just read that “Texas Station, Fiesta Rancho Now Plan to Remain Closed for One Year – Both North Las Vegas casinos put their gaming and liquor licenses on hold” at:
https://vegas.eater.com/2020/6/26/21304837/texas-station-fiesta-rancho-gaming-liquor-licenses-on-hold-coronavirus-pandemic
Jenn, I’ve tried Hatch Valley and the 505 chile’s before (have one in the fridge) and Aunt June’s chile’s. She is a NM native for years in the chile business. Yes, they are awesome and thanks for taking the time to mention. You’ve got me hungry again! Maybe a new owner will bring back a Garduno’s.
PS: On a side note, on one of our last days at the Fiesta Rancho, in back by the rear exit, directly across from Panda Express, they were building a Kentucky Fried Chicken Stand. I talked to one of the installers and he told me they had just recently received a go ahead from Stations to construct a new popular venue Stations was sure would be a big hit. A strange twist of events and another Stations ghost. Thanks Jenn. JCJ
William Shakespeare hit the nail on the head when in Hamlet Queen Gertrude said, “The lady doth protest too much, methinks.” Make yourself a pitcher of Margaritas and recline by the pool until this anxiety passes. We’ll check in on you a little before Labor Day.
“God grant me the serenity to accept the things I cannot change, courage to change the things I can and the wisdom to know the difference.” Alcoholics Anonymous prayer to be recited after consuming the pitcher of Margaritas.
I am familiar with the quote; hence, my saying “…and last they came for me.” The point I’m making is I simply don’t take all this crap seriously. I can’t worship…no matter, I pray an hour at home every day so going once a week, yes, fine, but I manage at home. God could care less. I just came back from Chairing a TAB Meeting. It went fine. When I go out I wear a mask. Tonight I had somebody tell me I look younger. LOL! I have been through a lot of shit in my life. The best advice I got was from a co-worker years ago. “And this too shall pass.”