It is the end of an era, as the oldest casino property in downtown Las Vegas is eliminating traditional table games in favor of a new gambling experience.

Golden Gate will no longer offer live dealer table games, according to owner Derek Stevens. The 119-year-old property will phase out live dealer tables over the next several weeks, replacing them with “high-energy” slot and electronic table-game machines, Stevens said.

By mid-September, most, if not all, of the live table games will be gone.

The decision to remove live dealer tables at Golden Gate was made based on the financial success of a similar move at Circa, another downtown casino owned by Stevens. The second floor of Circa has not had live dealers for nearly a year, he said, and yet it has “exploded in popularity.”

He also described the rollout at Circa as a test-run.

“I mean, I go up there, get a beer, and just sit there for an hour, and I just watch people coming in,” he said.

He said that 15 dice dealers who were employed at Golden Gate were offered positions at Circa and The D, a third downtown Las Vegas casino property owned by Stevens and his brother, Greg.

News of the changes at Golden Gate was first reported by Casino.org on Friday, which forced Stevens’ hand to inform the rest of the dealers ahead of schedule, he said Saturday. The remaining table games dealers are in the process of being notified of the changes and will also be offered jobs at the other casinos, Stevens said.

“There’s really no employment-related issues,” he said. “That was one thing we wanted to get ahead of, just from an operational perspective.”

Stevens said the inspiration for the major shake-up at Golden Gate was the high-limit slot rooms at other Las Vegas casinos, such as Aria, The Cosmopolitan and Durango

Even within his own portfolio, Stevens said that Circa’s high-limit room generates roughly a third of the property’s monthly gross gaming revenue.

“What we’re seeing is that more and more younger people want to play these (electronic games),” he said, adding his team is “trying to get ahead of the curve.”

Steven figures that table games will eventually become more of a luxury offering that will still be in casinos but no longer be the focal point of a gaming floor.

He said that customers are changing and that he wants to create a “high-energy, high-impact, fun environment” in the historic Golden Gate.

“So, for me, I’m really excited about that,” he said. “And the fact that we’re able to do this without anybody losing a job is pretty cool.”

According to data from the American Gaming Association, two of the highest-grossing commercial casinos in the U.S. outside Nevada or Mississippi — Resorts World New York City and MGM’s Empire City Casino in Yonkers, New York — operate without live dealer table games.

However, both are seeking licenses in New York that would, in part, let them offer table games with live dealers.

___

©2025 Las Vegas Review-Journal. Visit reviewjournal.com.. Distributed by Tribune Content Agency, LLC.