Northern California wildfires wiped away several weeks’ worth of business this summer from casinos on the south shore of Lake Tahoe.

The largest blaze, the Caldor Fire, produced heavy smoke that substantially reduced air quality and induced highway closures that halted visitation from Northern California customers. Gaming operations, which are normally crowded during the busy Labor Day weekend, were shut down for six days.

South Tahoe casino operators knew the shutdown was temporary. But they feared images of the blaze could fuel a misperception by customers that Northern Nevada’s picturesque gaming community was going up in flames.

In reality, the Caldor Fire, which consumed nearly 222,000 acres over a two-month period, never got closer than five miles from the California city of South Lake Tahoe, which neighbors the Nevada community of Stateline, home to the south shore's big four casinos: Hard Rock, Monbleu, Harveys and Harrah's.

Hard Rock Lake Tahoe Executive Director of Marketing Eric Barbaro said national headlines and images circulated during the fire “sensationalized” the effect on the Tahoe region.

Karie Hall, general manager of Harrah’s Lake Tahoe and Harveys Lake Tahoe, said damage from the fire was non-existent in the populated areas of the community.

Beyond the temporary closures, the fire compounded fears of a more rapid decline in the region’s gaming market, which saw peak gaming revenue more than two decades ago amid the growth of tribal casinos in Northern California and lasting damage from the 2008 recession.

But nearly two months later, the South Tahoe gaming market appears to be rallying. Early snow falls during October gave hope for a busy winter ski season at the neighboring Heavenly Mountain Ski Resort, and resort operators say hotel reservations through Christmas and the New Year have been picking up.

“The market is recovering, guests are returning, and we look forward to a great ski season,” MontBleu Resort Casino General Manager Tim Tretton said. “The early snowfall and colder weather have created a great base for the ski resorts resulting in an early season and lift in room bookings.”

Doug Pierini, chief operating officer of the Western Region for Vail Resorts (which owns Heavenly), said the ski area’s critical infrastructure was untouched.

Pierini said in an emailed statement in late September.
Tahoe casinos foresee a late 2022 opening for the long-planned $80 million Tahoe South Events Center. The 132,000 square-foot facility is being constructed at the corner of the U.S. Highway 50 and Lake Parkway on land that was once a parking lot for MontBleu, and will provide a location to host conferences, sports tournaments and concerts with a capacity up to 6,000 attendees.

South Tahoe’s casino market is primarily made up of four casino resorts with three owners.

Hard Rock is owned by Las Vegas-based Paragon Gaming, which licensed the name and brand from Hard Rock International. Harveys and Harrah’s are operated by Caesars Entertainment through a lease agreement with real estate investment trust VICI Properties.

MontBleu is expected to take on a new name later this month: Bally’s Lake Tahoe. The property’s operations were acquired earlier this year by Rhode Island-based Bally’s Corp., which is in the process of buying the operations of Tropicana Las Vegas.

The only other gaming entity in South Tahoe is a Dotty’s slot machine parlor on Highway 50 near Harrah's.

Gaming revenues were soaring

The Labor Day shutdown came as the Tahoe market was on a rebound from 2020. “Some people were having the best summer ever,” Chaplin said.

The Gaming Control Board said the September revenue totals for South Tahoe was $5.6 million, a decline of 69 percent from pre-pandemic September 2019. Control Board analyst Michael Lawton said the figure represented the region’s lowest single-month revenue total in history — with the exception of April and May of last year, when gaming operations were suspended statewide at the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic.

Extended road closures in California drove the recent revenue decline. U.S. Highway 50, the primary artery into South Lake Tahoe from the Bay Area and through Sacramento, remained closed on the California side until Sept. 20. Highway 88, a road that helps connect Tahoe with Central California communities including Stockton, was closed until Sept. 16.

Still, South Tahoe gaming revenue is up 13.3 percent for the first nine months of the year compared to 2019, when the market produced $225.6 million in gaming revenue. Before the September shutdown, South Tahoe was 22.9 percent ahead of 2019 revenue totals.

Calendar year 2000 was South Tahoe’s highest-ever 12-month gaming revenue period at $352.6 million. But over time, competition from Northern California tribal casinos and the 2008 recession took away visitation. South Tahoe’s gaming totals through September are still down 28.1 percent from the 2000 record.

Over the last two decades, South Tahoe casino operators have upgraded facilities and have made a renewed commitment to the market.

Caesars recently completed roughly $40 million in renovations at Harveys, including a remodeling of the hotel tower closest to the lake and adding restaurants, such as Gordon Ramsey’s “Hell’s Kitchen.”
 
During the COVID-19 shutdown, South Tahoe lost one gaming operator. The small Lakeside Casino Resort never reopened after the state’s 78-day shutdown was lifted.

The ownership sold off the furnishings and interiors, including the gaming equipment, in an auction while the building and land were sold to Barton Health, which will turn the facility into a medical center.

A cooperative effort
After the fire danger subsided and South Tahoe casinos reopened, operators said a combined effort was needed to boost the gaming market’s prospects and assure visitors the region was open for business.

Similar cooperation took place before and after the casinos turned off their games between Sept. 1-6. The resorts served as temporary housing for firefighters and other first responders, as well as for a number of California-based employees who were forced to evacuate.

The casino parking lots were transformed into command centers for the agencies fighting the Caldor Fire. “Our biggest concern was the community,” said Hall, who grew up on the California side of Lake Tahoe before starting her career with Caesars. She has since managed several of the company’s casino resorts on the Las Vegas Strip and in Atlantic City. She returned to Tahoe to oversee the two properties earlier this year.

South Tahoe casinos focus on future
The $80 million Tahoe South Events Center is seen under construction near MontBleu Resort and across from Hard Rock Lake Tahoe on Oct. 11, 2021. The 132,000-square facility is expected to open in late 2022.

The $80 million Tahoe South Events Center is seen under construction near MontBleu Resort and across from Hard Rock Lake Tahoe on Oct. 11, 2021. The 132,000-square facility is expected to open in late 2022.

Northern California wildfires wiped away several weeks’ worth of business this summer from casinos on the south shore of Lake Tahoe.

The largest blaze, the Caldor Fire, produced heavy smoke that substantially reduced air quality and induced highway closures that halted visitation from Northern California customers. Gaming operations, which are normally crowded during the busy Labor Day weekend, were shut down for six days.

South Tahoe casino operators knew the shutdown was temporary. But they feared images of the blaze could fuel a misperception by customers that Northern Nevada’s picturesque gaming community was going up in flames.

In reality, the Caldor Fire, which consumed nearly 222,000 acres over a two-month period, never got closer than five miles from the California city of South Lake Tahoe, which neighbors the Nevada community of Stateline, home to the south shore's big four casinos: Hard Rock, Monbleu, Harveys and Harrah's.

Hard Rock Lake Tahoe Executive Director of Marketing Eric Barbaro said national headlines and images circulated during the fire “sensationalized” the effect on the Tahoe region.

Karie Hall, general manager of Harrah’s Lake Tahoe and Harveys Lake Tahoe, said damage from the fire was non-existent in the populated areas of the community.

Beyond the temporary closures, the fire compounded fears of a more rapid decline in the region’s gaming market, which saw peak gaming revenue more than two decades ago amid the growth of tribal casinos in Northern California and lasting damage from the 2008 recession.

But nearly two months later, the South Tahoe gaming market appears to be rallying. Early snow falls during October gave hope for a busy winter ski season at the neighboring Heavenly Mountain Ski Resort, and resort operators say hotel reservations through Christmas and the New Year have been picking up.

“The market is recovering, guests are returning, and we look forward to a great ski season,” MontBleu Resort Casino General Manager Tim Tretton said. “The early snowfall and colder weather have created a great base for the ski resorts resulting in an early season and lift in room bookings.”

Doug Pierini, chief operating officer of the Western Region for Vail Resorts (which owns Heavenly), said the ski area’s critical infrastructure was untouched.

Tahoe casinos foresee a late 2022 opening for the long-planned $80 million Tahoe South Events Center. The 132,000 square-foot facility is being constructed at the corner of the U.S. Highway 50 and Lake Parkway on land that was once a parking lot for MontBleu, and will provide a location to host conferences, sports tournaments and concerts with a capacity up to 6,000 attendees.

South Tahoe’s casino market is primarily made up of four casino resorts with three owners.

Hard Rock is owned by Las Vegas-based Paragon Gaming, which licensed the name and brand from Hard Rock International. Harveys and Harrah’s are operated by Caesars Entertainment through a lease agreement with real estate investment trust VICI Properties.
MontBleu is expected to take on a new name later this month: Bally’s Lake Tahoe. The property’s operations were acquired earlier this year by Rhode Island-based Bally’s Corp., which is in the process of buying the operations of Tropicana Las Vegas.

The only other gaming entity in South Tahoe is a Dotty’s slot machine parlor on Highway 50 near Harrah's.

Gaming revenues were soaring

The Labor Day shutdown came as the Tahoe market was on a rebound from 2020. “Some people were having the best summer ever,” Chaplin said.

The Gaming Control Board said the September revenue totals for South Tahoe was $5.6 million, a decline of 69 percent from pre-pandemic September 2019. Control Board analyst Michael Lawton said the figure represented the region’s lowest single-month revenue total in history — with the exception of April and May of last year, when gaming operations were suspended statewide at the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic.

Extended road closures in California drove the recent revenue decline. U.S. Highway 50, the primary artery into South Lake Tahoe from the Bay Area and through Sacramento, remained closed on the California side until Sept. 20. Highway 88, a road that helps connect Tahoe with Central California communities including Stockton, was closed until Sept. 16.

Still, South Tahoe gaming revenue is up 13.3 percent for the first nine months of the year compared to 2019, when the market produced $225.6 million in gaming revenue. Before the September shutdown, South Tahoe was 22.9 percent ahead of 2019 revenue totals. “This illustrates how strong gaming had been running up until the fire,” Lawton said.

Calendar year 2000 was South Tahoe’s highest-ever 12-month gaming revenue period at $352.6 million. But over time, competition from Northern California tribal casinos and the 2008 recession took away visitation. South Tahoe’s gaming totals through September are still down 28.1 percent from the 2000 record.

Over the last two decades, South Tahoe casino operators have upgraded facilities and have made a renewed commitment to the market. "There are some great properties and fantastic assets up here,” Hall said.

Caesars recently completed roughly $40 million in renovations at Harveys, including a remodeling of the hotel tower closest to the lake and adding restaurants, such as Gordon Ramsey’s “Hell’s Kitchen.”

During the COVID-19 shutdown, South Tahoe lost one gaming operator. The small Lakeside Casino Resort never reopened after the state’s 78-day shutdown was lifted.

The ownership sold off the furnishings and interiors, including the gaming equipment, in an auction while the building and land were sold to Barton Health, which will turn the facility into a medical center.

“They had plans to sell before COVID, so it wasn't because of the pandemic,” Chaplin said. “It was one of the times when it just didn’t make sense to keep going.”

A cooperative effort
After the fire danger subsided and South Tahoe casinos reopened, operators said a combined effort was needed to boost the gaming market’s prospects and assure visitors the region was open for business.
Similar cooperation took place before and after the casinos turned off their games between Sept. 1-6. The resorts served as temporary housing for firefighters and other first responders, as well as for a number of California-based employees who were forced to evacuate.
The casino parking lots were transformed into command centers for the agencies fighting the Caldor Fire.

“Our biggest concern was the community,” said Hall, who grew up on the California side of Lake Tahoe before starting her career with Caesars. She has since managed several of the company’s casino resorts on the Las Vegas Strip and in Atlantic City. She returned to Tahoe to oversee the two properties earlier this year.

Barbaro said Hard Rock’s back parking lot was filled with fire trucks from various local, state and government agencies. But with the immediate fire danger out of the way, the casino wanted to replace images of fire fighting with picturesque images of Lake Tahoe, showing customers the area remained untouched.

Hard Rock sent photographers to those locations, time-stamped and dated the photos, and put them out in direct mail and email marketing pieces to the property’s database. The images were also distributed on Hard Rock’s social media channels. That cooperation efforts during and after the fire also included non-gaming businesses.