Grand Illusion? Downtown Vegas Casino May Be On Verge Of Cashing Out

If you can’t pay, you can’t play. It’s a simple rule that may now apply to the Downtown Grand in Las Vegas. The hotel-casino, perhaps better known as the former Lady Luck, has been dogged by a string of negative developments and now rumors of imminent financial collapse.

What may prove a debilitating blow was dealt on July 28 by the Vital Vegas blog. Reporter Scott Roeben posted on social media, “Folks in California financial/investment circles saying vendors aren’t being paid by Downtown Grand.”

Nonpayment of vendors can be the death knell of a business, and it was what heralded the exit of Barrick Gaming from five Downtown casinos in 2005. In the case of the Grand, Casino Reports was unable to confirm the rumor with CEO Seth Schorr, who did not respond to our message.

Roeben informed Casino Reports that the Grand is also facing issues with EB-5 investors (who trade seed money for green cards) who want to claw back $100 million in financing. “The EB-5 lawsuit is complicating things and is one of the reasons [owner] CIM probably can’t sell even if it found a buyer … and that’s not even the primary lender,” Roeben wrote.

The Grand’s public agony has been amplified by a long-running attempt to sell the casino, without success. Rumors of a sale effort were confirmed in July 2024 and one suitor was former Cosmopolitan of Las Vegas President John Unwin. (Roeben says he came close to triggering a deal.)

Even more highly touted was the interest of Penske Media. The latter, owner of Rolling Stone, was mulling the idea of a Las Vegas casino rebranded under the Rolling Stone moniker. That negotiation collapsed last month, Roeben reported, at the same time as it was being reported layoffs were taking place at the Grand and hotel occupancy was at 20%.

“It looks like they’re in big trouble,” Las Vegas Advisor Publisher Anthony Curtis told Casino Reports. “I think they’ve got a big debt payment coming up that they’re not going to make. That’s what I’m hearing.”

Rough part of town

Curtis traces part of the problem to the casino’s 7½-year closure, during the period in which it made the transition from Lady Luck to Downtown Grand. “The only place that was ever able to kick it there was the Lady Luck, ‘cause they did so many promotions,” Curtis recalled. “The location’s a problem because it’s off of the drag on Fremont Street. You’ve got to walk, unless there’s parking there — and people aren’t going to do that. You have to walk a block and a half off of Fremont Street.

“I was talking to somebody who’s spent a lot of time there and she said the same thing: Weekdays are no good but weekends seem pretty busy in there,” Curtis continued, adding that the Grand has been cutting back on free play, another ill omen.

Could the Grand do the unthinkable and close? It may not be so unthinkable in Las Vegas anymore.

The beginning of August saw the impending shutdown of Poker Palace in North Las Vegas. That suburb had already lost the Texas Station, Fiesta, and Silver Nugget casinos. The latter, ominously, was run by Grand operator Fifth Street Gaming.

In June, Boyd Gaming liquidated the long-shuttered Eastside Cannery for a markdown $45 million. (It cost $250 million to build, under a previous owner.)

“Some of these places that are kind of fringe-y, I guess they’re vulnerable to what’s going on with the economic uncertainty — which is really serious right now,” said Curtis. “You get a place that is in any kind of teetering difficulty and this could be it for them, as it apparently was for Poker Palace and it might be for Downtown Grand.”

Prices keep dropping

During the Grand’s year-long stint on the sale block, its asking price has fallen as low as $30 million (the figure mooted for Unwin’s bid), possibly lower. One complication, according to Roeben, is deferred maintenance. 

“There are built-in challenges, so ‘good money after bad’ fits,” Roben said, adding that “someone could swoop in and buy the senior debt, but it’s a great question who might buy it, especially now, given the downward trajectory of visitation.” 

He’s also heard, he said, that it would require $1 billion in reinvestment to bring the Grand up to date, a near-unprecedented investment in Downtown. (Derek Stevens’ Circa cost $1 billion, but it was a ground-up project, not a revamp.)

Those inherent issues may be scaring off buyers. Roeben got wind of a Downtown competitor offering a rock-bottom $10 million for the Grand — an exceptionally lowball price for a functioning casino — due to the condition of the property. “Should the bank foreclose, they’d look to dump it but get something back in their investment,” he added.

One believer in the Grand is University of Nevada Las Vegas tourism boffin Dr. Amanda Belarmino. “I think they are a bit of an echo of the rest of the city, as summer is traditionally soft for convention and business travel. Without a large pool to attract the more traditional summer visitors, it is reasonable to expect that the Grand would be soft during the week,” she said.

Enumerating the Grand’s main competitors, Belarmino continued, “The Plaza has the high-profile marketing of its all-inclusive rate and associated podcast. The Golden Nugget benefits from being a part of Landry’s. Circa invests a lot in TV marketing. And of course Boyd has a firm foothold on the Fremont Street Experience.”

She concluded, “City-wide, 2026 is looking strong with early convention bookings, and a lot of economists are projecting growth in the fourth quarter for the city. Therefore, I think they still have time for a turnaround.” However, Belarmino also predicted Las Vegas would benefit from a second Donald Trump presidency. The opposite has been the case so far.

For all the intrigue swirling around the Grand, its saga has largely been ignored by legacy media, particularly the Las Vegas Review-Journal. This puzzles Roeben. He lamented, “Vendors not being paid, loan defaults, it’s a train wreck that’s been almost entirely unreported.”