Golden Gate to Close Its Last Live Craps Table [UPDATED]

By Scott Roeben, on August 08 2025
5 min read 25 comments
Downtown Las Vegas Las Vegas

It seems like every month or so we say, “It’s the end of an era.” This actually is. Again.

Downtown’s Golden Gate casino is closing its last live dice table. The date we’ve heard is August 10, 2025. That part is unconfirmed as of this writing, but give it a minute.

This feels a little like when Binion’s closed its poker room. Golden Gate didn’t invent craps, but it made it legendary. Word of the removal of its last dice table evokes some strong emotions, and we are a dude, so we don’t really do emotions.

Is Vegas without dice still Vegas? And could we be more dramatic?

Seeing the last craps table at Golden Gate go is bittersweet.

The closure makes business sense, and it’s not like there aren’t craps tables a few feet away at Circa (owned by Derek and Greg Stevens, along with The D), but still. This news just stings.

What business reasons? They’re awkward, and they have been tracked and witnessed across Las Vegas in recent years.

The answer is labor costs.

Craps is the most expensive live table game for a casino to operate, as a typical table requires three dealers. At one time, there were boxmen (yes, there were female boxmen, you either get Vegas or you don’t) to mediate disputes, but they are increasingly rare (another cost savings measure). Floor persons and pit bosses (the suits) are also involved.

Here’s some math.

It’s a lot of people, people are expensive. Told you it would get awkward, and there’s a reason nobody talks about it. Except us, because we DGAF.

At some point, it’s simply cost prohibitive to operate a craps table.

Las Vegas casinos have tried to deal with the rising costs of live table games, especially craps. Some have opened “hybrid” table games, part electronic, but with one live dealer. Some offer only electronic table games (ETGs). Silver Sevens closed its traditional live games and now has hybrid games.

Four Queens, faced with the same dilemma as Golden Gate, but wanting to offer some form of craps to its customers, installed a “tub,” or half table, that can be handled by a lone dealer. The alternative is no craps, except electronic, like “bubble craps.”

So-called “bubble craps” games are everywhere now, and many beginners prefer them to a live game, as with a live game, there’s lots of jargon and can be intimidating to newbies.

Binion’s, long a bastion of robust craps action, has been downsizing its offerings for years.

It’s probably worth noting this decision by Golden Gate isn’t related to the recent drops in visitation in Las Vegas or the clickbait “Vegas is dead!” narrative.

Casinos evaluate their game mix pretty much daily, and this move has been under consideration for years.

It’s akin to buffets. Casinos realized most buffets are loss-leaders, and talked about closing them for years before the pandemic gave them cover to actually do so.

This conversation gets a lot more awkward if you zoom out even further.

Costs continue to increase for casinos, and while that can’t be pinned entirely on labor, that’s the biggest cost of virtually every business.

The trend is just beginning, and slot machines don’t call out when they’re hung over, they don’t require breaks or health benefits, they never insist upon wearing a mask years after the end of the pandemic. That last one is personal pet peeve, but you get the point.

The uncomfortable truth is this trend is going to continue. Gird yourselves, table games dealers everywhere. It’s not A.I. or robots coming for you, it’s the revenue auditors.

Our fellow youths aren’t gambling as much as the olds.

Craps is easily the most Las Vegas game, but its pool of customers isn’t growing.

Which brings us back to why it’s so sad to think about Golden Gate without craps.

If Fremont casino didn’t have craps, or Golden Nugget, would you care? Aria? Bellagio? Planet Hollywood? Meh.

But it’s Golden Gate. It opened in freaking 1906. Since we started visiting Las Vegas, we have lost thousands of dollars at those craps tables, and won several dozen dollars, too.

It wasn’t just playing dice, it was playing dice at The Gate.

Not everything is ruined, probably. Golden Gate still has these sweet old-timey slot machines.

Golden Gate and dice go together like showgirls and sequins, tweekers and alleyways, Bugsy and Virginia, white socks and sandals, bottle service and blue balls, karaoke and murder, shrimp cocktails and, oh, nevermind.

There are just some things so Las Vegas, you can’t imagine a world where they don’t exist anymore.

Yes, we’re full-on pining. If you don’t like it, start your own blog. Prepare to be canceled anytime you talk about how stupid masks are, you’ve been warned.

We expect to hear from our friends at Golden Gate, but we wanted to break this news first (courtesy of our hero, @clloden, who passed along the tip) because we don’t want you to hear it from someone who has never played craps at Golden Gate, and probably has no idea why craps tables are going away.

Expect more live table games to go away. Places like Casino Royale lost their live table games ages ago. We haven’t been there since. We honestly care a lot less since table games minimums have gone up and are out of our price range, especially up and down The Strip.

In Spanish, “ca” is used as an abbreviation for “cerca de,” or “circa,” as in “ca. 1906,” an approximate date. “Si” means “yes,” “no” means “no.” So, “casino” sort of translates as, “Circa? Yes or no?” How have we not won a Pulitzer yet?

There’s still lots of craps in Las Vegas, and like we said, if you miss the game at Golden Gate, there’s Circa nearby and Plaza across the street and Binion’s and Four Queens and Fremont and Golden Nugget and The Cal and Main Street. And El Cortez. And Downtown Grand.

Hours vary.

Even that sentence hurts us in our bones.

That was not a sexual joke. Dice are also called “bones.”

Now is not the time for sexual jokes.

Except for the one about liking a “hard 6 or 8” and occasionally “laying a 10.”

Somewhere other than Golden Gate, but it’s still one of our favorite downtown haunts to gamble and cavort and carouse in a respectful and consensual manner, with a clear and mutual understanding of personal boundaries and legally binding safe words.

It’s easy to say live craps should be required in any Las Vegas, but we have never operated a business.

We will miss the tradition. The ritual. The feeling of being a part of something timeless.

Playing craps at Golden Gate was where hope got loud, but nothing lasts forever.

Symbols don’t keep the lights on.

Dibs on some of that stinky felt.

Update (8/8/25): We received this statement from Circa Hospitality Group: “Big changes are coming to the Golden Gate, and we couldn’t be more excited. As the oldest hotel in Las Vegas, we’ve always embraced the future, and now we’re reimagining our casino floor with a high-energy electronic table games pit unlike anything downtown has seen. Expect more excitement, faster gameplay, and all the newest machines. All of our table games team members at the Golden Gate are being offered roles at Circa or the D, or the opportunity to explore new departments within the company.” Jaw, meet dropped.

We asked about the other thing you’ll want to know. No more table games, no more dancing dealers. Nobody loses their job. The changes are expected to be complete by the end of August 2025.