Palms Casino Resort off the Strip sold for $650M

Red Rock Resorts, owner of the Station and Fiesta casinos, has sold the Palms Casino Resort to the San Manuel Band of Mission Indians, which operates the San Manuel Casino in the San Diego area. San Manuel paid $650 million for the Palms, less than the $690 million Red Rock spent on a recent comprehensive renovation of the resort. The Palms has not reopened since the pandemic shutdown and the sales agreement precludes a reopening until the deal closes later this year. There’s been no indication that a name change is planned.

Tao buys Hakkasan: Tao Group Hospitality has acquired Hakkasan Group, creating a global entertainment behemoth with several high-profile properties in Las Vegas. Among those are Tao’s eponymous nightclub at the Venetian, Lavo at Palazzo and Marquee at the Cosmopolitan, along with Hakkasan’s Wet Republic at MGM Grand, Omnia at Caesars Palace and Jewel at Aria.

Draft day: The dates have been set for the 2022 NFL draft in Las Vegas. The event will run April 28-30, coming on the heels of the Pro Bowl being played at Allegiant Stadium on Feb. 6. The draft is expected to be a huge event that will draw similarly to New Year’s Eve and Super Bowl weekends. It was scheduled to be in Las Vegas in 2020 but was canceled due to the pandemic.

Jackpots: Two million-dollar slot jackpots were hit last week — one on the Strip and the other downtown. The first was for $2.9 million on a Wheel of Fortune machine at the Venetian. The second was for $1.2 million on a Buffalo machine at the D.

Question: Is there a gas shortage in Las Vegas?

Answer: No. There were a couple of instances in the past month of some stations closing their pumps, but there was always another station open right down the street. There’s been a marginal increase in price (around $3.30 per gallon now), but there’s been no time when there was a real possibility of not being able to fuel up.

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