One of the newest hotel-casinos in Las Vegas is on its way to a major expansion over the next few months. It has been a little over a month since Virgin Hotels Las Vegas started its operation and have announced that the first step to its growth will be the opening of a swimming pool with much more to come. As more patrons walk through the doors of gaming facilities in Las Vegas, many casinos and resorts are looking to grow and engage their guests in new and exciting ways.
East of the Las Vegas Strip on Paradise Road is where Virgin Hotels can be found. The same location was once home to the Hard Rock Hotel and has since been rebranded and completely renovated. A prime location near the University of Nevada, Las Vegas and more importantly, the McCarran International Airport.
According to the CEO of the Virgin Hotels Las Vegas ownership group and JC hospitality, Richard Bosworth, the swimming pool can be expected near the end of May 2021. However, it is not the only amenity to be expected and that will become available to the location’s patrons soon. Among these amenities are restaurants and other attractions. These include The Elia Beach Club scheduled for a June launch and Todd English’s Olives and Afters Ice Cream still planned to open in May as well.
Furthermore, to keep up with the growing North American sports betting market a sportsbook is also planned to launch at Virgin Hotels. The sportsbook is planned to be managed by the British operator, Betfred and is currently awaiting its regulatory approval and sports wagering license. Betfred is known to have more than 1,000 retail sportsbooks and is one of the largest independent sportsbook operators in the world. If all goes according to plan then the sportsbook will be up and running by September this year. Bosworth added that the growth of the company was expected and that the company opened into a market that was expected to grow and that the company would grow with it.
The planned growth from Virgin Hotels will not be the only hotel-casino project underway in Nevada. Southern Nevada will also have projects rolling out soon as the economy slowly starts to recover from a slump in 2020. Some of the key indicators are increased passenger travel into Nevada as well as major brands such as the Cosmopolitan and MGM Resorts running job fairs to fill employee vacancies at their facilities in the state.
Additionally, 150 employees are being hired for an entertainment and sports wagering site at Money, Baby!, located Virgin Hotels. With the number of visitors to casinos increasing, more employees are required to tend to these potential customers.
While things are starting to heat up in Las Vegas, some concerns have been raised by industry stakeholders. There are still not enough international visitors and conventions running in the state as yet. Industry experts have stated that resorts in Las Vegas have long depended on the revenue generated by the use of hotel amenities and conventions, even more so than gambling revenue.
As the state adjusts to its new normal and waits for the day to return to its former glory, there are still plenty of other projects to look forward to. The Las Vegas Strip is expected to welcome the most expensive casino resort in history, for this area. In place of the demolished Stardust casinos, locals and visitors will soon see the Resort World Las Vegas. Resorts World is expected to open its doors late in June and is reported to cost 4.3 billion USD. It will also be the first new casino resort to open its doors on the Las Vegas strip in over 10 years.
Additionally, the Strip will be a flurry of projects over the next few months as there has been a proposal to construct a multilevel restaurant and retail complex at CityCenter. Patrons and visitors to the Strip should also see renovations happening at Sahara Las Vegas in the coming months. A casino in Henderson has also recently opened its doors to the public. In the South of Las Vegas, The Pass can now be found in the Water Street District.