Thoughts on The Plaza and LVC (and a couple of others)

I spent a lot of time downtown last week and played at several downtown casinos. I'm a BJ player but will sprinkle in craps here and there.
I will admit LVC and Plaza were very slow (not many people) but that did not deter me from having a great time. I can't praise the dealers and pit critters enough. All were extremely friendly and they made the atmosphere at my table extremely enjoyable! Great rules on BJ - played the $10 DD at LVC and the $25 DD at The Plaza.
I had them call Curt about midnight one evening but he was not in the office. Maybe next time!
Anyway, I think these great downtown properties get a bad wrap because they're not busy (and dirty bathrooms )


My goto properties are the D and GG and I had a great time at those properties as well. My overall rankings for enjoyment at all the casinos I hit are listed below:

1) GG
2) the D
3) LVC
4) The Plaza
5) SLS
6) Riviera
7) DTG

 

You should try Main Street Station. I'm a Video Poker player there, but there always seems to be a fun time going on at the BJ and Craps tables there. The California also has lots of table games in play, but the clientele there are a little more sedate.

 

MSS is a very comfortable place to play low limit BJ. Almost always $5 BJ there. Not usually rocking, but usually a good time. The clientele being from Hawaii, the gambling jones runs deep and the gamblers there and at the Cal are out for a good time, but not usually partying hard.

The Cal is a bit more sedate as Buddha says, but still fun. I find that the gamblers at both properties are 99% of the time fun to hang out with, but rarely on a partying tear. I do my best to change that when I'm there, but I'm but a pebble in the ocean by myself! <G>

JW

 

I just wish that they would put the same effort into the LVC that they are putting into The Plaza. The LVC is a dump and over the past several years I have seen zero effort to improve it on iota. LVC has a great location, better than the Plaza, granted the hotel is unworkable, but they seem content to let it fritter away and I'm content not to go there.

 

I had a great time playing BJ at LVC in November. Not only are the rules good, but the dealers are friendlier than other casinos that don't have a party pit, not to mention they are nice to look at. Does the Plaza have a party pit?

 

When I eat at 777 I'll usually play a little BJ at MSS. I used to give them more play, but the convenience of the other casinos just puts it on the back burner. I agree, it's a good place to play.

I had planned on hitting up the Cal this time (for the first time) but did not make it.

What would you like to see? just curious.
I'm not into details so much. I used to stay and play primarily at Fitzgeralds so that gives you an idea of my expectations. I like a place with friendly staff and good gaming rules.
I am not disagreeing with you, it could be cleaned up - just curious on your thoughts.

I'm not sure. I was not playing in the party pit and dont recall seeing one, but i was three sheets to it when i got to the Plaza

 

Good question. Here are several specifics:

1. I would make a consistent effort to keep the bathrooms clean. They are abhorant and there is absolutely no excuse for their condition.

2. I would spend the necessary money to keep some security at the back door to keep the undesirables in and turning the bathrooms into a shambles.

3. Have some decent food options.

4. Get rid of all the crappy souvenir stuff and install more gaming tables. I would add some carny games, quarter roulette, one or two BJ games with extremely liberal BJ rules (low minimum and low max). In short offer something that isn't readily available downtown.

5. Make the place more appealing to get people to come in. From Fremont Street it looks like a low rent strip club.

Clearly this will take some money, but the LVC is in too good of a location to wither on the vine like it has for the last decade. I'm sure the state of their hotel has a lot to do with current ownership not wanting to sink any money into it. However, I find it inconceivable that the ownership has for all intents and purposes let the place run itself into the ground and can't even pretend that they care about its future.

 

Just a few years ago the LVC was always crowded in the evenings. The one big change is the vp inventory. They had a lot more playable games back then. Now they only have few scattered coin games that play slow. If you take away the Jokers Wild vp there are only 7 or 8 99%+ machines.

 

Two great ideas.
I went through this exercise a several months ago when we were all discussing the opening of DTG.

Just throwing in my two-cents...
1. More light! Darkly-lit works ok for GG, but they have the rest of that sort of vibe working for them quite well. Up the wattage! Look at Plaza or MSS for an example of "well lit".
2. The girls are ok...some are incredible! But the ones with 75% of their visible bodies covered in ink? Nope. It's not a biker bar and they are not bartenders. Go with a 'cleaner' look. See Golden Gate or Golden Nugget for examples - not Binion's!
3. Get those Fremont doors open! Like garage-door open... that, along with the brighter lighting will call attention to the place. There's plenty of foot-traffic...but only a few that are curious enough to explore what appears to be an unknown within. Yes, that will cost more in A/C bills...for awhile...when the clientele is solid & plentiful, you can close the doors during the day. See Harrah's for an example of open doors & blowers to keep the hot air out.
4. Hire a few more CWs...young ones...attentive ones. Serve cocktails in an actual glass - not in plastic.
5. Turn the friggin' music DOWN...people want to be able to converse with one another, as well as with the attractive dealers at the tables. Hard to do that with the music so loud. Trust me on this.
6. As Mike said, move that souvenir stuff to the back or over by the Main Street side-doors. Gaming & drinking need to be front & center on Fremont. I would go with Mike's idea... put in 3-card & UTH & LIR & 4-card Crazy-poker & Free-bet BJ right up as close to Fremont Street as is allowed by law. Keep them staffed...at least from noon on. Hire an attractive girl or two (these can be dealers too, by the way) who will shill the foot-traffic in...a cute girl calls me over to play an empty or nearly empty $5 UTH or 3-card table? I'll fall for that every time!
7. Repeat what currently works. Your $10 DD blackjack table is one of the best games in all of downtown. Have more than one! - Especially at night when things are busy.

I have more...but these are a good start... Curt? LVC management/ownership? Are you listening?

 

I don't gamble. So, I ranked the same properties as the OP - but on over all vibe (heavily influenced by restaurants and bars)

1) SLS
2) DTG
3) The D
4) LVC
5) GG
6) Riviera
7) The Plaza

Bill

 

Just a heads up, when you check in at the Plaza, ask about the parking. We stayed one night and upon leaving the parking garage in the morning I had to put my CC in and it charged me $12. As the gate opened I saw a guy in the booth and asked him about the parking. He said I could go to the lobby and request a refund. Not worth the hassle as we were on our way home. We had a great time except for the parking incident.

 

I didn't give SLS the credit it deserved. it shouldn't have even been in this conversation.
It was a nice property with an interesting interior, and I did find a nice $10 BJ table w/ a good staff. I wanted to say goodbye to Riv and SLS was closeby so I stopped in.

Regarding LVC changes and such - all solid suggestions, with restrooms and undesirables being at the top of the list.

 

Actually I think they put in the souvenir shop so they could make some money off of them. Yes, they probably could have put the shop in the narrow area facing Main St (near the former escalators) but they probably wanted to get more in rent by giving the shop prime space in front of the FSE.

The LVC did try to upgrade, they were in the process of upgrading their rooms when they closed the hotel down. The problem was that they wanted to make the LVC an "upscale" place (like they were doing with the Plaza) but since the Plaza wasn't doing so well being "upscale" they stopped upgrading the LVC and closed the hotel portion down and recently closed down the parking lot. They were using the extra fixtures, carpets, etc. from the Plaza renovate. They did try to bring in the crowd, they had a "nightclub" a few years ago in the area where the sportsbook was but that didn't do too well (crowd probably weren't gamblers).


TOPCARD, the music is loud because they are trying to compete with the GG and the D and try to bring in the younger crowd with loud music and scantily clad dealers. But that is one of the reasons I don't play there anymore (too loud).

Now that the economy is getting better you would hope they would reopen the hotel but guess the economy isn't doing well enough to do that. But part of the problem is that they wanted to make the LVC an "upscale" hotel. It would be hard to do so, IMHO LVC's fame was offering cheap rooms and decent gaming. As we see at the Plaza, you don't see the crowds playing like you see at the other Fremont St. casinos.

IMHO I hope that someone buys the LVC so they can fix it up and make it livable again. They need to get people into the casino, the best way would be to open up the hotel for guests. I seriously doubt the current owners will do much to the place other than keep it open.

 

I'm mostly a craps player so my go to list doesn't even have what many others have on their list. I'm not a big gambler (low roller) but I usually go where the best minimums and best odds are. Naturally I'm partially inclined to play at the Boyd properties since I stay there a lot:

MSS
Cal
Fremont
El Cortez
Orleans
Sam's Town

I'm not into fancy schmancy stuff so I hardly (if ever) play at hotels like SLS and DTG. They just don't appeal to me one bit. I don't get a good vibe playing at the LVC so I don't play there anymore. The D and GG are too loud for my tastes (I need to bring earplugs I guess).

 

Thank you. Plaza does not have a party pit due to the diversity in guests. LVC's party pit adds that extra touch to that property.

 

That was you. lol yes we missed one another. For sure next time we will meet. My door is always open or throw me a text on my phone. I will come running. Thank you for the great comments. we as a team appreciate everyone and want to see everyone enjoy whether it be for five minutes or five days. I will see you again soon i am sure.

 

Hi Don! next time come see one of us casino hosts just before driving out. We can solve that parking issue for you. We are almost complete in fine tuning the new parking system. In the end the new system is more convenient for guests.

 

lol Well, i am reading Top. Does that count? I will indeed pass along the valuable ideas floating through here. Hey, with the help of the ideas from this message board we have made great strides in improvements so it is working. More to come I am sure. And thank you all for your great ideas.

 

I have to also say the dealers at the Plaza were top notch. Even when they were kicking my butt I really enjoyed playing there. I had a great time. Curt is a great guy too. I'm looking forward to my return in July.

 

i have not seen any fp bonus or job?