Casino Buzz: High Stakes Switch-A-Roo At Caesars Palace

Apparently the Caesars Palace poker room will be cleared out to make way for a high-stakes slots salon, at least temporarily. (Image: courtesy of Caesars Palace)

Changes are afoot on the casino floor at Caesars Palace. Numerous outlets report that there will be no shuffling up and dealing at the casino's iconic poker room this summer.

The Caesars Palace poker room will have a new purpose later this summer. This space will become a temporary high-limit slot room for at least 60-90 days.

The current high-limit slots room is set for renovation. The poker room could be relocated during the renovation but there's no official information on if and where the poker tables would go.

Construction on the new high-limit slot room is expected to begin after WSOP ends on July 17. Poker will continue until the upgrade begins.

Details are sparse since the news essentially stems from a corporate memo first obtained by Poker News.

Will Caesars Open A New Temporary Poker Area?

Caesars hasn’t announced if it will create a poker space elsewhere on the casino floor during the renovations. This wouldn’t be difficult with the size of Caesars Palace.

It’s possible some or all of the 18 tables could be moved to another part of the massive 116,000-square-foot casino floor. The current poker area only occupies 4,100 square feet.

The casino floor at Caesars Palace has plenty of nooks and crannies since it has been altered numerous times since its opening in 1966.

It wouldn’t be difficult to place some or all of the poker tables in another part of the casino floor for a few months. Caesars could swap out video poker machines for poker tables in the space near the parking garage elevators, Food Hall, and Forum Shops.

We reached out to Caesars for any additional information. The company has yet to responded.

Caesars Palace Renovation Timeline

Construction on the high-limit slots room is expected to take two to three months. Don’t get too tied to that timeline.

Caesars doesn’t always meet its self-imposed deadlines. The company is still working on an upgrade of the former Jubilee Tower at Horseshoe and a bridge to connect Paris directly to the tower.

The project was supposed to be completed earlier this year, according to the original announcement last year. However, construction on the new balconies and connecting bridge is still underway.

This is now the Versailles Tower and is technically part of Paris Las Vegas and many of the rooms have been renovated.

A few years ago the company was behind schedule with an update of the casino floor and entry to Caesars Palace.

These are just a couple of examples of Caesars upgrade delays. The slot room renovation is a much smaller project and could be finished in whatever official timeline the company has behind closed doors. Don't hold your breath that the work will be completed by the end of the timeline when Caesars makes this official.

Vegas Strip Poker Rooms Few and Far Between

Casino poker in Las Vegas has been waning in popularity over the years. Not only have casinos repurposed older poker rooms but new casinos mostly open without a space for poker.

Durango and Fontainebleau opened without a poker room last year. Circa and Virgin both opened without a poker room in 2020 and 2021, respectively.

Resorts World is the only new casino to include a poker room. The 6,000-square-foot poker room is in a hallway off the main casino floor.

There are only 13 Vegas Strip casinos with a poker room according to the most recent revenue report from the Nevada Gaming Control Board (NGCB). There are fewer than 20 poker rooms in casinos throughout the Las Vegas Valley.

Caesars operates eight casinos on the Vegas Strip. There are only poker rooms at two of those properties.

The company could be down to one Las Vegas poker room if there’s a pause at Caesars Palace. In addition to Caesars Palace, Horseshoe Las Vegas has a poker room. It makes sense that the home of the WSOP would also house its Hall of Fame Poker Room.