Sahara Casino closing poker room

Poker players in Las Vegas will have one less place to play after The Sahara Casino announced it will be closing its poker room in mid-November.

The seven-table poker room is scheduled to close on November 16 to make room for more slot machines that will be available in December.

Paul Hobson, general manager of the casino told media that “when it debuts in mid-December, the enhanced offerings will include dedicated slot banks where players can be some of the first in Las Vegas to play the newest test games from top gaming content providers.”

The poker room at The Sahara was reopened in February 2020 offering cash games and low buy-in tournaments throughout the week. It seems that the poker room did not garner enough traffic or profits for The Sahara to keep it open.

The Sahara is far from the only casino in Las Vegas to close their poker room in recent years. Many Las Vegas casinos hose not to reopen their poker rooms after they were forced to close during the Covid-19 pandemic. Some of the well-known casinos in Las Vegas that have stopped offering poker include the Mirage, Excalibur, Tropicana, Flamingo, Harrah’s. and Binion’s, which despite launching the World Series of Poker in 1970, closed their poker room in March 2020.

Caesars Palace on the Las Vegas Strip also recently closed their poker room to temporarily house high-stake slots while the regular home to the slots is being renovated. It is expected that the poker room will reopen once the renovations are completed.

A decline in poker offerings isn’t just limited to Las Vegas. Atlantic City has also seen a decline in the number of poker tables in the city in recent years. The only casino on the boardwalk that continues to offer poker is the Tropicana.

Ocean Resort closed its poker room several years ago, while Caesars shuttered their poker room during the pandemic and it never reopened.