Category 10 Sets Opening Date at Flamingo, Takes Aim at Ole Red

By Scott Roeben, on October 01 2026
3 min read 1 comment
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The long-anticipated Luke Combs’ Category 10 finally has an opening date at Flamingo: Oct. 15, 2026.

The three-story, 34,000-square-foot country-themed venue opens at 11:00 a.m. in the former Margaritaville space. Margaritaville closed April 15, 2024 after more than two decades at Flamingo, leaving behind a sweet location due to the metric ass-ton of foot traffic.

Category 10 features seven bars, two stages, about 800 seats and a 3,000-square-foot rooftop overlooking The Strip. That’s not a typo. Seven bars. Props to any place where you can do a bar crawl without ever leaving the building.

Shin, meet dig. Hum, meet dinger. Hoote, meet nanny. No, we will not be using this literary device for “hoedown.”

Luke Combs is a country singer whose name we’d never heard until the announcement he’d be opening a venue at Flamingo. We later learned he is one of the biggest country singers in the world right now. Which, to us, is as impressive as being one of the high-scoring cricket player in the world, but with a more expensive hat.

Seriously, cowboy hats can cost thousands of dollars. We are not making this up.

Today’s evidence people have lost their damn minds.

Our own apathy about country music aside, this is a big deal because Margaritaville was beloved and somebody had to do something in that space. More than a year before Category 10 was announced (Oct. 2, 2025), we shared that the new venue would be country-themed. That’s because we have great sources, but also Las Vegas is our town and everyone else is just borrowing it.

Category 10 takes its name from Combs’ hit song “Hurricane” and includes several distinct spaces, including Hurricane Hall, bourbon-focused The Still and The Eye Rooftop.

Sorry about embedding that video, but we needed something to help keep our words from slapping together.

There’s also the Beautiful Crazy Women’s Lounge, located outside of the women’s restroom on the venue’s first floor. “A champagne bar, soft seating, makeup counters and Hollywood vanity mirrors create the perfect setting for a lady’s night out.”

FYI Luke: You can’t use “crazy” like that anymore because it’s dismissive and ableist. We should know because we are a noted proponent of political correctness.

There’s also a walk-up Hurricane Bar facing The Strip and Linq Promenade, presumably due to the lack of places to buy liquor on the Las Vegas Strip.

In that spirit, here’s a look inside Category 10.

Not to be a buzzkill, but real hurricanes only go up to Category 5. Combs was clearly using an intentional transgression of the established scale for hyperbolic effect. You know how country singers are!

Anyhoo, Category 10 enters an increasingly crowded country bar and restaurant scene on The Strip, and appears ready to give Blake Shelton’s Ole Red a run for its money.

In a twist, Category 10 and Ole Red are owned by the same company, Opry Entertainment Group.

Ole Red opened at the Grand Bazaar Shops at Horseshoe in January 2024 and has been printing said ducats ever since. Its neighbor, Bottled Blonde, hasn’t fared as well. The reason? No country music, obviously!

Other country venues on The Strip? Gilley’s has been a fixture at Treasure Island since April 2010. Jason Aldean’s Kitchen + Bar joined the fray in December 2024 at 63 CityCenter, whatever that might be.

There’s also Losers Bar at MGM Grand.

While we are not a country music person, there seems to be demand for it.

Our team of financial advisers, which may or may not actually exist, have determined we need to get in on this.

Opening weekend for Category 10 will feature free line-dancing lessons and DJs.

Category 10 will have food that leans into Combs’ Appalachian roots, so gird for Carolina smoked ribs, a Smoky Mountain chicken sandwich and Carolina barbecue chicken flatbread, also known as pizza.

The Flamingo location is the second Category 10 following the original in Nashville (motto: “Branson with more Ozempic“).

You bet your ass we made a graphic. Do you know this blog at all?

Category 10 has a lot of things going for it, despite the country music theme. Location is king on The Strip, and people often ask where they can do line dancing. It’s mostly women, but where women go, men tend to follow.

We’re looking forward to checking the place out. We’re also curious to see if Category 10 cannibalizes Ole Red, a mere 650 feet the south. Since they’re both owned by Opry Entertainment Group, is the company cannibalizing from itself? Is demand so great that it doesn’t matter?

Has country music hit a saturation point on The Strip? They said it about celebrity-chef restaurants, steakhouses, nightclubs, dayclubs, residencies, food halls, speakeasies and immersive attractions, but the continue to open and many thrive.

According to Ryman Hospitality Properties, which owns a controlling interest of about 70% in Opry Entertainment Group, the cost of Category 10 was about $35 million. Caesars Entertainment, owner of Flamingo, lost its butt on the $40 million “DiscoShow” and Diner Ross project at Linq.

At the very least, Category 10 is going to crush it during NFR.

Here’s hoping Category 10 takes Vegas by storm.