Texas Station, Fiesta to remain closed for at least one more year

The city of North Las Vegas and the Nevada Gaming Control Board have given Station Casinos permission to keep its Texas Station and Fiesta Rancho casino properties closed for at least another year.

The two properties as well as the Fiesta Henderson were closed in March 2020 when Gov. Steve Sisolak ordered gaming establishments statewide closed as a precaution against the potential spread of the COVID-19 virus.

Station kept the properties closed after the precautionary mandates were lifted in June 2020 because of the economic uncertainty that resulted from the closures.

Station also closed its Palms resort property and sold it to the San Manuel Band of Mission Indians of California, which reopened the property in April.

A spokesman for the city said the North Las Vegas City Council voted Wednesday to abide by the direction of the Gaming Control Board regarding the two casinos’ licensing. The North Las Vegas resolution enables Station to keep the two properties closed through at least June 2023.

Gaming Control Board Chairman Brin Gibson administratively approved the temporary closure of the casinos through Dec. 30, 2022, and after that, the company can petition for extensions. Under gaming regulations, the properties are required to pay licensing fees for one slot machine and one table game and they must operate one day during each calendar quarter.

A spokesman for Station said the company would have no further comment on the closures beyond what it has already stated publicly, including on whether Station had any plans to sell the properties.

In a May first-quarter earnings call, executives said the properties would remain closed indefinitely but the company would continue to monitor economic conditions.

Texas Station, originally opened in 1995, also has 200 hotel rooms and a 121,823-square-foot casino, one of the largest in North Las Vegas. Fiesta Rancho, which opened in 1994, has 100 hotel rooms and a 59,932-square-foot casino.

The properties are located across the street from each other at North Rancho Drive and Lake Mead Boulevard. The Southern Nevada Health District used Texas Station’s parking garage as a COVID-19 testing and vaccination site over the past two years.

Texas Station also has an 18-screen movie theater and a bowling complex that have remained closed.

Originally built by the Maloof family, Fiesta Rancho, which has an ice rink on the property, was sold to Station in 2001.

Contact Richard N. Velotta at rvelotta@reviewjournal.com or 702-477-3893. Follow @RickVelotta on Twitter.