It’s official: Las Vegas will be losing another poker room as Resorts World has announced it will be shutting down the poker side of operations at the end of March.
The news doesn’t come as a massive surprise, as rumors about the shutdown have been circulating since November 2025. At that time, Resorts World played host to the 2025 NAPT, and the Main Event saw a significant drop in participation compared to the year prior.
So, in some ways, the writing was already on the wall. However, many players, especially those who considered the poker room their home, held out hope that the venue could find a way to keep the lights on. Sadly, that did not happen.
A Poker Room With a Soul
The poker room at the Resorts World isn’t the first one to shut down in Las Vegas, and it won’t be the last one. Recently, the number of tourists visiting the city has been on a steady decline, making it harder for casinos to keep poker rooms open.
But the closure of Resorts World hits particularly hard. This wasn’t just another place to play poker. The room always had that special kind of vibe where players could truly feel at home. There was a true feeling of camaraderie between the regulars and the staff.
And, unlike some places, Resorts World has always gone out of its way to feel poker players welcome.
Plus, the place stood out as the go-to destination for all fans of mixed games. While most other places in Las Vegas focus on Texas Hold’em and Pot Limit Omaha, Resorts World always had some low (and higher) stakes mixed game tables going.
The mixed game crowd may not be a big one compared to the number of Hold’em players, but it is very enthusiastic. This was enough to keep the action going pretty much around the clock, with occasional special events like the Mixed Game Festival thrown into the mix.
Unfortunately, it seems that all of that wasn’t enough to keep the lights on, and the room will be closing its doors on March 29, after nearly five years. It was certainly a good run, but it should have lasted much longer.
The Future of Poker on the Strip
If we look back a decade or so ago, there has been a very noticeable decline in the number of poker rooms on the Las Vegas Strip. Over the years, many closed their doors, some for good, and some tried to bounce back, but without much success.
The most recent such example is the poker room at Planet Hollywood. The venue initially shut down its poker room back in 2021. Then, the room reopened in May 2025, only to be closed again earlier this year, after only nine months in operation.
There are many factors that contributed to these developments. The COVID-19 pandemic certainly did not help the situation, and fewer people visiting Las Vegas in recent years makes it harder for poker rooms to continue operating.
Of course, this is not to say that live poker on the Strip is dead. Far from it. There are still nearly twenty rooms in operation in the city, and major festivals like the World Series of Poker have been posting record numbers.
But, for those who enjoyed poker at Resorts World and especially for fans of mixed games, this feels a little bit like the end of an era. It may well be that the room will come back at some point, even bigger and better than before, but, for now, it is goodbye.
