Plaza Plans New High Limit Lounge, Plus Metric Ass-Ton of More News

By Scott Roeben, on April 16 2026
3 min read 0 comments
Downtown Las Vegas Las Vegas Las Vegas Bars Las Vegas Casinos Las Vegas Restaurants

There’s a slew of news coming out of Plaza Hotel & Casino at the moment, so let’s dive headlong into all the recent moves.

Plaza just announced it’s getting a high limit lounge and we’ve got some sweet renderings.

The new high limit lounge will be in the Brightside Breakfast & Burgers space, next to Omaha Bar. If those things don’t ring a bell you may not be a downtown obsessive, which is probably fine, but not optimal if you want to be popular at parties.

In many casinos, high limit lounges are “aspirational,” meaning they’re built before the demand is there. We’re pretty sure this is that.

The new high limit lounge at Plaza opens later this summer and will have about 60 slot machines and electronic table games.

High limit lounges are everywhere on The Strip, and they’re booming in locals casinos, but they aren’t common downtown. Even when they exist, they often feel like an afterthought. This new lounge puts high limit machines front and center, just off Plaza’s casino floor.

Here’s another look at the entrance.

Nothing fancy, but accomplishes the goal of keeping high limit players from having to mingle with common folks, once known as “plebeians” when people had better vocabularies.

Downtown has traditionally been a place for “grinders,” low rollers who play low limit games, but that’s changing.

Downtown still appeals to low rollers, but the hope is more offerings for bigger spenders will lure more players from The Strip and locals casinos.

Plaza already does a good job at catering to value-seekers. For example, it is the only downtown casino with bingo.

Here’s what the high limit lounge will look like inside.

Plaza is building a bridge between old and new perceptions of downtown.

The news release about the lounge describes it as having a “uniquely opulent ambiance,” which is a bit of a stretch if you’ve ever visited, well, any other casino high limit lounge on The Strip or at a Stations casino, all due respect.

The release also says, “the design of the Plaza’s High Limit Gaming Room blends classic Las Vegas glamour with modern sophistication, featuring rich dark tones, gold Art Deco detailing, and plush upholstery.”

Uh, no.

We’d describe it more as a throwback vibe, a hat tip to Plaza’s colorful history, while exercising a disciplined design approach to control costs. Simplicity and nostalgia carry the experience, rather than over-the-top materials or architectural theatrics.

We used to write news releases.

One more rendering.

We love when casinos splurge on those high-maintenance chairs with buttery leather seats.

News out of Plaza has come fast and furious, with a number of restaurant and casino items of note, mainly broken by us, naturally.

Just Rice closed in the Plaza’s food court.

Big B’s Texas BBQ is finalizing its contract to bring the popular locals restaurant to Plaza’s food court.

As we were the first to share, Plaza is getting a Five Guys burgers.

Five Guys is going into the Pop-Up Pizza space. The new location of Pop-Up hasn’t been specified, as it relies on another dining deal being completed, but you’ll know when we do.

Not new, but Hogs & Heifers is printing money at Plaza. Ditto Pinkbox Doughnuts.

The smokeless casino annex at Plaza, once part of a branding deal with slot influencer Brian Christopher, now has table games. Not only that, play on those machines is streamed live on YouTube. It’s not just for streamers, it’s for everyone. Not too long ago, casinos would browbeat anyone trying to take a photo inside a casino. Now, this. Amazing progress.

There’s probably more, but we are very busy and important and need to wrap this up so we can do further research into these “slot machines” everyone is talking about.

Oh, Plaza installed “cashless” slots. We don’t really get why these machines are different, but apparently they are. You can fund the machine prior to playing, so you don’t need cash. When we tried to use them, they weren’t operational yet, but we’re keeping an eye on them. Here’s more from the company doing the cashless functionality.

Our biggest concern about Plaza relates to former mayor Oscar Goodman. He is looking frail, may be wheelchair-bound and his “Oscar Dinner Series” hasn’t been scheduled recently. We are assured everything is fine, but that doesn’t keep us from being concerned. Goodman, 86, is a Las Vegas institution. If we’re ever going to perfect human cloning, Oscar Goodman is one of the best reasons to do so.

More news from the Plaza soon.