Editor
Planet Hollywood is shutting down its poker room less than one year after opening.
The 23-table room launched last spring with the idea of being a “fun” room on the strip, offering a variety of poker formats and low limits. It’s now set to close its doors for good on Jan. 31.
It apparently didn’t pan out. There were already troubling signs back in December when the room closed on two occasions. One major criticism of the poker room was that it was on the second floor of Planet Hollywood, which conceivably hurt foot traffic.
This is actually the second time Planet Hollywood has taken a run at poker on the property. Its original room was closed for four years (unsurprisingly, during the pandemic) but reopened in May 2025.
Surprisingly, management decided to pull the plug on Planet Hollywood poker before the summer, when the World Series of Poker will no doubt bring considerable traffic.
Staff are expected to be transitioned to other properties in the Caesars portfolio.
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Planet Hollywood Joins Long List of Shuttered Rooms
Poker is always a hard sell in casinos, as it historically generates far less revenue than slots or table games.
That said, there was a renaissance after the pandemic as players sought face-to-face action.
The renewed interest in poker at some of the more middling (from a poker standpoint) Las Vegas gambling properties seems to be over. Back in September, North Vegas institution The Poker Palace closed after the property was sold. Some of the other poker rooms that have closed over the last few years include Sahara, Flamingo, Excalibur, Mirage, and Rio.
It certainly doesn’t help that Vegas has been struggling with fewer visitors over the last 12 months. Many properties are getting creative as they attempt to coax international visitors back to Sin City.
Poker Consolidation Continues to Play Out in Vegas
There appears to be an ever clearer bifurcation between the haves and have-nots in poker in Las Vegas.
Buzzy casinos and resorts such as Caesars Palace, Aria, Venetian, Bellagio, and Wynn continue to draw huge crowds to their poker games.
Meanwhile, smaller or mid-sized poker rooms have struggled immensely. Consolidation has been even more stark on Fremont Street. Golden Nugget is now the only casino in downtown Vegas to even offer poker.
Overall, Vegas is down to 18 poker rooms, but the consensus is that the biggest rooms are performing very well.
Reps from Caesars Palace and Green Valley Ranch said their rooms are humming along.
“We’ve been very busy,” a source at Caesars told PokerScout.
The Caesars source said the room is basically at capacity on the weekend, with all 16 tables in operation. Caesars reopened its poker room in the older, more prominent location after operating an out-of-the-way temporary room for a while.
Meanwhile, the Green Valley Ranch poker room just reopened in October (after closing during the pandemic). The locals’ casino has been busy over the past few weeks, with weekends getting the lion’s share of the action. It’s worth noting because off-strip poker rooms have been a bit marginalized in recent years, with most of the consolidation pushing action toward the Strip.
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