Theme Southwestern party | No. of rooms 100 | |
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Location North Las Vegas, Nevada Address 2400 North Rancho Drive Opening date December 14, 1994; 22 years ago (December 14, 1994) Total gaming space 59,932 sq ft (5,567.9 m) | ||
Fiesta Rancho is a hotel and locals casino located on 25.46 acres (10.30 ha) of land at 2400 North Rancho Drive, across the street from the Texas Station hotel-casino, in North Las Vegas, Nevada.
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The hotel-casino opened as the Fiesta in 1994. It was owned and operated by the Maloof family until its sale to Station Casinos in 2001. Station renamed the property as Fiesta Rancho, to differentiate it from its sister property, the Fiesta Henderson.
Fiesta (1994–2001)
George J. Maloof Jr. convinced his family to build the casino. The Maloof family chose to build in a location off of the Las Vegas Strip, where real estate prices were significantly higher. George Maloof, who spent three years attempting to obtain financing for the project, said, "It was tough to put it together. A lot of people questioned the location. I looked at the growth in the area and was convinced it could work. I just had to convince other people." The 25-acre property was purchased in March 1994. The hotel-casino was constructed at a cost of either $25 million, or $35 million.
The hotel-casino opened as the Fiesta on December 14, 1994, with 100 hotel rooms. The Fiesta featured a Mexican theme, and was the first hotel-casino opened in North Las Vegas. The Fiesta was owned and operated by the Maloof family, while George Maloof served as the president of the hotel-casino. Upon opening, the Fiesta aimed to appeal to the video poker market. George Maloof, speaking about the casino's success, said, "We figured out quickly that it was too small when we opened."
An expansion in 1996 added a buffet and 700 slot machines. A 1997 expansion doubled the casino to 50,000 sq ft (4,600 m2). By that time, the Fiesta included a drive-through sports book, 1,400 video poker and slot machines, five restaurants, and was among nine other Las Vegas casinos to offer SportXction, a new interactive betting system. In 1998, the Nevada Gaming Control Board considered fining the Fiesta for participating in illegal betting practices on horse races. Later that year, the Gaming Control Board filed a 17-count complaint against the Fiesta.
In February 1999, Maloof announced plans for a $22 million expansion, to be completed by mid-December 1999 for the celebration of the New Millennium. By July 1999, the expansion was expected to cost $26 million. According to Maloof, "The thrust of our expansion is entertainment, things we didn't have before. It's going to be highly themed and entertainment-oriented. It'll appeal to different markets, some younger crowds. You build these things for different times of the day." Up to that point, the casino had paid out over 118,500 royal flushes won through its video poker machines, and had been proclaimed as "the Royal Flush Capital of the World." At that time, 1,000 of the casino's 1,400 slot machines played video poker. The casino's sign would also give passers-by the casino's current total of royal flushes paid out.
The $26 million expansion was scheduled to open on November 30, 1999. The expansion was constructed on the east side of the property, at the northeast corner of Lake Mead Boulevard and Rancho Drive, and featured the addition of a food court with six restaurants. The expansion included the addition of "the world's largest" tequila bar, Garduno's Margarita Factory; and Roxy's Pipe Organ Pizzeria, which featured a large 70-year-old pipe organ that was once part of the Roxy Theater in New York.
The expansion also increased the casino by 20,000 sq ft (1,900 m2), for a total of 70,000 sq ft (6,500 m2). The number of slot machines was raised 500, to nearly 2,000 machines. A four-story, 1,000-space parking garage was also added, which allowed direct access to the food court. Maloof hired 250 new workers for the expansion, bringing the Fiesta's employee total to approximately 1,300. Maloof said, "We didn't think we'd be expanding as quickly as we have since we opened. You never expand just to expand. There's got to be demand." The Fiesta had received approximately 8,000 customers a day, but Maloof projected the number to increase to 10,000 after the expansion. Maloof's future expansion plans for the Fiesta included the addition of a 500-room hotel tower and an additional 1,000 sq ft (93 m2) of gaming space.
In March 2000, the Fiesta became the first casino to field test a new type of coinless gambling machines, when 50 of its video poker machines were converted to a completely coinless format. According to George Maloof, "For someone to make a whole floor coinless, the market's not ready. But there's a certain person that doesn't want to mess with coins any more. That's perfect for them." If successful, it was anticipated that the Fiesta could switch up to 300 of its machines to a coinless format. Later that year, Maloof said the casino's coinless slot machines had been successful with customers.
After six years of successful operation, the Fiesta's clientele was 99 percent local, and George Maloof wanted to expand the Fiesta brand with a new location on property he owned on Flamingo Road, west of the Las Vegas Strip. Maloof had met with Station Casinos chairman Frank Fertitta III and Las Vegas Sun editor Brian Greenspun – who owned a company that was building a casino in Green Valley, Henderson as a joint project with Station – to discuss possible joint ventures; their talks evolved, and Station ultimately announced in July 2000 that it would purchase the Fiesta. Maloof planned to use the money from the sale to fund his new $250 million hotel-casino on Flamingo Road, which eventually became the site of his Palms Casino Resort. Before the sale, the Fiesta's 1,100 employees were required to reapply for their jobs, as 412 employees from other Station casino properties had applied for a transfer to the Fiesta; Station planned to hire only 1,016 people.
In October 2000, Station agreed to purchase the Reserve hotel-casino in Henderson, Nevada, and considered redesigning it and renaming it as another Fiesta location. Station's $185 million purchase of the Fiesta was finalized in January 2001, followed later that month by the company's $70 million purchase of The Reserve. After the acquisition, the Fiesta's 1,100 employees were laid off and replaced with employees from other Station casino properties as part of an attempt to "Stationize" the Fiesta. The Fiesta's "Royal Flush Capital of the World" tagline was also discontinued.
Fiesta Rancho (2001–present)
In March 2001, the hotel-casino was renamed Fiesta Rancho. In April 2001, Station announced that The Reserve would be renamed as Fiesta Henderson, as the company had hoped to turn Fiesta into a successful brand name. Station Casinos' chief financial officer said that some day, there would "almost certainly" be more than two Fiesta casinos in the Las Vegas Valley.
By August 2001, the Fiesta Rancho's profits had declined in part because of competition from the new Suncoast Hotel and Casino – which took an estimated 20 percent of the Fiesta Rancho's customer base – and from Carl Icahn's Arizona Charlie's Decatur hotel-casino. The decline was also attributed to the layoffs of 1,100 employees, many of whom personally knew the casino's regular customers; an estimated 2,000 to 3,000 regular customers attended the Fiesta up to five times a week, but it is believed that many of them were alienated by the layoffs.
The Fiesta also had a reputation among local gamblers for its loose video poker machines, but many customers felt that this was no longer the case after the sale to Station. Anthony Curtis, publisher of the Las Vegas Advisor, said, "Any time there's a little change, these people (local gamblers) are very fickle. They'll fly off the handle, get crazy and leave. All of a sudden, they don't feel at home anymore." Station launched a large-scale marketing plan to promote the Fiesta Rancho and bring back its clientele. The Fiesta Rancho's sister property, the Fiesta Henderson, opened on December 29, 2001.
In 2003, the Fiesta Rancho was chosen by readers and staff of the Las Vegas Review-Journal for "Best Video Poker", as part of the newspaper's annual "The Best of Las Vegas" awards. By December 2003, Station planned to remove the ice arena from its Santa Fe Station, also on North Rancho Drive, as it was not financially viable. Instead, Station planned to begin construction on a 31,000 sq ft (2,900 m2) 1,400-seat ice arena at Fiesta Rancho in April 2004, for an autumn 2004 opening. The ice rink opened under the name SoBe Ice Arena.
In 2006, the Fiesta Rancho was chosen by the Las Vegas Review-Journal for its "Best Blackjack" award. In February 2008, the casino's table-game minimums were lowered and its "Royal Flush Capital of the World" tagline was reintroduced as part of a new promotional tactic to promote the casino as its own brand, distinct from Station. From 2009 to 2011, Fiesta Rancho and Fiesta Henderson were voted "Best Video Poker" by readers of the Las Vegas Review-Journal. The Fiesta casinos were also chosen by the Las Vegas Review-Journal for its 2011 "Best Bingo" award.