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local and regional casinos and to nearby Laughlin, which had a similar value offering on a larger scale. At year end 2004, it was evident that the model that had been successful for decades was broken. Due to the high levels of vagrancy and perceived levels of crime, locals avoided the area. Bill Boyd, Michael Gaughan (son of Jackie) and the Fertitta family built well-regarded locals casinos in the Las Vegas suburbs to meet the growing population across the valley. For many tourists, Downtown was not an attractive place to spend valuable leisure time, thus leaving patrons as aging and less affluent, predominantly from the Midwest and Hawaii. These were the customers that had been targeted in the 1970s and ’80s heyday. In 2004, aged 84, Gaughan sold the Plaza, Gold Spike, Vegas Club and Western casinos, plus over 60 acres of land to Barrick Gaming and Tamares Real Estate for $82 million. Tamares was to acquire Barrick’s interest in the portfolio the following year.
All Change London-based Tamares seemed an unlikely owner for a portfolio of legacy assets in what seemed a moribund gaming market. Led by Finnish native Chaim “Poju” Zabludowicz, the group had invested widely from telecoms to real estate but had no track record in Las Vegas and no experience operating casinos. Tamares was not interested in the casino business, but having witnessed and benefited from urban regeneration in other cities, such as New York, Washington, D.C. and London, Zabludowicz believed that Downtown Las Vegas was ripe for such a transformation. As part of Tamares’ London-based real estate investment team, Jonathan Jossel had studied gaming and casinos as part of his college degree, something that none of the previous owners of the Plaza had done. Charged with implementing Tamares’ real estate strategy, the young executive relocated to Las Vegas to survey the possibilities. Zabludowicz’s investment was early, but others were soon to follow. With an ambitious mayor in Oscar Goodman at the helm, there was a desire to drive business and commerce Downtown. Shortly after Tamares’ investment, the Epsteins were active in investing and refurbishing the El Cortez and other assets on Fremont East, real estate group CIM acquired the shuttered Lady Luck in 2007 to become the Downtown Grand, Derek Stevens made an initial investment in the Golden Gate in 2008 (which was a precursor to acquiring Fitzgerald’s in 2011 to form the D, and Circa, which opened in 2020), and lastly with the arrival of the late Tony Hsieh in 2012 and his Downtown Project, there was a concerted effort, and capital, to reinvent Downtown Las Vegas. With an external casino operator engaged to manage the Plaza, Tamares’ focus was primarily on real estate. However, as the Great Recession of 20072009 hit, Las Vegas was affected worse than any other city in the U.S., and both gaming revenues and visitation across the city went into freefall; between 2005 and 2010, gaming revenues fell 25 percent in Downtown Las Vegas. The Plaza had to take radical steps. At the age of 29, Jossel applied and was awarded an unrestricted gaming 26
Global Gaming Business APRIL 2021
DOWNTOWN LAS VEGAS GAMING REVENUES, 1984 - 2019 Year
Table Revenue ($m)
Slot Revenue ($m)
Total Revenue ($m)
1984 1985 1986 1987 1988 1989 1990 1991 1992 1993 1994 1995 1996 1997 1998 1999 2000 2001 2002 2003 2004 2005 2006 2007 2008 2009 2010 2011 2012 2013 2014 2015 2016 2017 2018 2019
$ 201,185 $ 214,163 $ 209,212 $ 232,836 $ 245,550 $ 265,047 $ 211,374 $ 217,332 $ 214,547 $ 196,325 $ 200,136 $ 204,309 $ 193,582 $ 192,063 $ 176,070 $ 165,301 $ 160,159 $ 165,971 $ 161,693 $ 167,373 $ 178,145 $ 159,679 $ 150,947 $ 150,204 $ 139,437 $ 120,262 $ 116,589 $ 116,827 $ 118,257 $ 126,628 $ 138,221 $ 154,402 $ 163,894 $ 199,860 $ 200,834 $ 217,173
$ 247,023 $ 276,999 $ 296,469 $ 350,577 $ 371,061 $ 406,660 $ 360,955 $ 448,812 $ 475,184 $ 481,036 $ 473,023 $ 430,326 $ 477,925 $ 479,027 $ 496,433 $ 496,186 $ 507,586 $ 511,524 $ 488,806 $ 483,563 $ 478,343 $ 486,817 $ 472,356 $ 476,098 $ 437,244 $ 397,642 $ 371,597 $ 374,914 $ 386,612 $ 369,978 $ 369,034 $ 387,398 $ 400,737 $ 431,394 $ 449,107 $ 467,749
$ 448,208 $ 491,162 $ 505,681 $ 583,413 $ 616,611 $ 671,707 $ 572,329 $ 666,144 $ 689,731 $ 677,361 $ 673,159 $ 634,635 $ 671,507 $ 671,090 $ 672,503 $ 661,487 $ 667,745 $ 677,495 $ 650,499 $ 650,936 $ 656,488 $ 646,496 $ 623,303 $ 626,302 $ 576,681 $ 517,904 $ 488,186 $ 491,741 $ 504,869 $ 496,606 $ 507,255 $ 541,800 $ 564,631 $ 631,254 $ 649,941 $ 684,922