Resorts World Las Vegas Will Close Its Poker Room on March 30

by Roy Brindley, 18 March 2026

The closure of Resorts World Las Vegas at the end of March will bring the total number of Las Vegas card rooms closed since 2011 to 43.

Resorts World Las Vegas will close its card room at the end of March. © Getty Images

Key Facts:

• Resorts World Las Vegas is set to close its poker room.
• The 29-table poker room opened in June 2021.
• The latest closure leaves just 17 card rooms in Las Vegas.
• News comes as Las Vegas prepares for its busiest poker period.

There is bad news for Las Vegas poker players: Resorts World Las Vegas, one of the city’s larger card rooms, will close on March 30. The venue boasts 29 poker tables and stages both cash and tournament games.

When the 3,500-room Resorts World opened in June 2021, it was the first Vegas casino to open with a poker room in 12 years. Many new hotels – Cosmopolitan, Circa, Fontainebleau, Wildfire Fremont, and Durango – have opened since, but do not feature a poker room.

Underlining a worrying trend, The Cromwell (formerly the Barbary Coast), SLS Las Vegas (formerly The Sahara), Virgin (Hard Rock), and Pass (Eldorado Casino) all reopened after renovation under new brands without space for poker tables.

Two about-to-open casinos, the 10,000 square-foot Cadence Crossing, which replaces Jokers Wild, and Club Fortune, which will ironically replace the remodelled Poker Palace, will not feature card rooms when their doors open.

17 Card Rooms Now Remain in Vegas

Resorts World Las Vegas poker rooms’ closure brings the number of live poker venues in Las Vegas down to 17. Eight are on the Strip: Aria, Bellagio, Caesars Palace, Mandalay Bay, MGM Grand, Venetian, Wynn, and the World Series of Poker host, Horseshoe Las Vegas.

The Golden Nugget serves downtown Las Vegas. Considered to be ‘locals casinos’, Boulder Station, Green Valley Ranch, Orleans, Red Rock, Santa Fe Station, Skyline, South Point, and Westgate are home to the other eight card rooms.

While three card rooms have closed and reopened, the latest closures bring the total number of Las Vegas card rooms closed since 2011 to 43. Former World Series of Poker homes, Binion’s (March 2020) and the Rio (also March 2020), are amongst the most notable.

2012, as the USA endured a slow and weak recovery from recession, was among the worst years for poker in Las Vegas. In total, six casinos discontinued their poker offering. Meanwhile, in 2022, as Vegas ground to a halt due to COVID, nine card rooms were shuttered and never reopened.

Closure Comes Ahead of Las Vegas’ Poker Gold Rush

Resorts World Las Vegas’s decision to close at short notice, ahead of the 2026 World Series of Poker (WSOP), is surprising. From the end of May, for almost two months, the Nevada city will be awash with card players drawn to poker’s Holy Grail from far and wide.

Las Vegas is traditionally packed with parallel tournament series and cash games at casinos other than the World Series host venues, Horseshoe Las Vegas and Paris Las Vegas. This year, major competitions that overlap with the WSOP include the Wynne Summer Classic, the Venetian DeepStack Championship Series, and the ARIA Poker Classic.

Resorts World Las Vegas has endured a troubled 18 months. In 2025, Nevada regulators fined Resorts World $10.5 million for its failure to report suspicious activity or verify income sources (a breach of anti-money laundering laws). It was the second-largest gaming regulatory fine in Nevada history.

Worse may be to come as multiple lawsuits filed in late 2025 and early 2026 accuse the casino of more severe wrongdoing. Allegations include running or enabling a racketeering enterprise, facilitating money laundering and illegal gambling networks and retaliation against whistleblowers and witnesses.