El Cortez Hotel & Casino in downtown Las Vegas opened its first-ever high-limit room in time for Super Bowl weekend. Previously part of the slot floor, the newly converted room has two high-limit blackjack tables and three high-limit slot machines.
“El Cortez has always been the working-man’s casino,” said Adam Wiesberg, the property’s general manager. “We’re a great gamble and have more than a hundred slot machines that still take coins. But over the years, especially recently, we’ve had a renaissance in downtown with a lot of new people coming. El Cortez has become desirable for its authenticity and we’re seeing more and more great players.”
In the past, El Cortez’ table max on its casino floor was $500, while the highest maximum was $1,000. Those limits were raised in the main casino to as high as $2,000 about 18 months ago. “We’ve seen a great response from a new group of players coming in,” Wiesberg said.
The maximum in the high-limit room is $2,000, Wiesberg said.
The room is open for blackjack every Friday and Saturday.
“You will also be able to reserve a table here,” Wiesberg said. “We’re a very hands-on operation. We’re very agile that way. So players can reserve it to watch March Madness with their buddies or at any other time.”
The room’s three high-limit slot machines include Aristocrat’s Dragon Cash and two Ainsworth Super Charged 7s. The slots are available 24 hours a day, seven days a week, with bet ranges between $2.50 and $500.
Wiesberg said there’s some overlap between the high-limit blackjack and slot machine players.
“We have a great new slot clientele here too,” Wiesberg said. “Bigger players are coming from the Strip and all over the world and they have been asking us if we have high-limit slots, because they want to bet more.”
In the past five years, the reputation of El Cortez has “skyrocketed,” according to Wiesberg. The request for the higher end is greater, and the casino, which celebrates its 80th anniversary this November and is on the National Register of Historic Places, needs to adapt, he said.
“We’re excited about it,” Wiesberg said. “We just spent $25 million remodeling the El Cortez. The carpet, ceilings, hallways, and entire tower of 200 rooms have been completely renovated. We have the most beautiful rooms in town now and we’re going to start on the hotel lobby, with a whole new floor and ceiling. When the idea of the high-limit room came up, it materialized quickly. It’s a focal point of our casino next to the cage and all this beautiful design.”
