Texas Station and Fiesta Rancho Remaining Shuttered Through June 2023

At least two of the four gaming venues temporarily closed by Station Casinos during the early days of the coronavirus pandemic will remain that way for another year.

The North Las Vegas City Council signed off on extending the “non-operational” status of Nevada’s Texas Station and Fiesta Rancho casinos through June 4, 2023. In 2020, Red Rock Resorts (NASDAQ:RRR), the parent company of Station Casinos, opted to purse ongoing closures for the Fiesta Henderson, Fiesta Rancho, Palms, and Texas Station.

In April 4 letters to Mary Aldava — business license manager for the city of North Las Vegas — Station Casinos requested that the gaming and liquor licenses for the venues remain in non-operational status.

What’s Next for Fiesta Rancho, Texas Station

Texas Station’s parking garage has served as a COVID-19 testing site over the past two years. But the fate of that venue, Fiesta Rancho, and Fiesta Henderson isn’t known.

Certain of our properties will remain closed until we determine when and if to reopen them based on our analysis of a number of factors, including the health of the economy as a whole, the health of the Las Vegas economy, customer demand and expense of operating the properties,” according to Red Rock’s latest 10Q filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

Local media reports indicate that some North Las Vegas residents have affinity for Fiesta Rancho and Texas Henderson, and would like to see the casinos reopened or turned into something else that benefits the public. Locals also expressed concern that the longer the venues remain closed, the greater the chances are that the vacated properties become bastions of undesirable activity.

As for Fiesta Henderson, it’s unlikely that venue will reopen this year.

“The Company will continue to assess the performance of its open properties, as well as the Las Vegas market and the economy as a whole, before considering whether to reopen some or all of the remaining properties. The Company has no current plans to reopen any of these properties in 2022,” said Red Rock in the 10Q.

Sale Speculation

As Fiesta Henderson, Fiesta Rancho, and Texas Station remain shuttered, there’s speculation — albeit infrequent — that Red Rock could sell one, two, or all of the venues.

That’s not out of the realm of possibility, because the operator ultimately sold the Palms, taking a loss in the process. Previously, Red Rock executives refuted rumors that any of the four venues were on the sales block. Obviously, that wasn’t true in the case of Palms.

Owing to increasingly attractive demographics, the Las Vegas locals market could be compelling to prospective buyers of the aforementioned Station Casino,s or Red Rock could opt to sell the real estate to buyers with non-gaming plans. However, the company hasn’t publicly commented on sale possibilities for the venues.