Bingo! Plaza Casino to Hold $160K Tournament in Downtown Las Vegas

Posted on: June 21, 2022, 05:34h. 

Last updated on: June 23, 2022, 04:15h.

Ed Silverstein @casinoorgedsilv Read More
Expertise: Legal, Tribal Gaming.

Plaza Hotel & Casino will have a $160,000 Super Bingo tournament starting at the end of July. Some 1,000 players are expected to take part in the event at the downtown Las Vegas gaming venue.

The Plaza Casino in downtown Las Vegas
The Plaza Casino in downtown Las Vegas, pictured above. The venue will hold a Super Bingo tournament this summer. (Image: KTNV)

The tournament will be held between July 31 and Aug. 2 in the Plaza’s ballroom. Basic registration for the tournament is $160 a person. Nevada residents will be charged $80 a person. The discount is a lure for locals to attend.

Next month’s Super Bingo tournament packages at the Plaza, which include hotel and bingo, start at $300 for a four-night stay. There is no resort fee. Players will receive one 6-on paper pack for two days. They will also get two daubers. There are free drinks at an open bar. Boxed lunches are provided. There is $10 worth of free slot machine play after the first day’s session.

The Plaza has the only bingo room among downtown Las Vegas venues. The bingo room has six sessions a day.

Bingo’s Vegas History

The origins of the game date back to 1530 Italy, but the name “Bingo” is thought to be a creation by US toy maker Edwin S Lowe in 1929. And from the game’s US debut, it’s had a strong presence in Vegas.

In 1947, Club Bingo opened on the Las Vegas Strip. It evolved into the Sahara Hotel, Michael Green, a history professor at UNLV, said. “In 1976, the Bingo Palace opened west of the Strip on Sahara, and it became Palace Station and the basis of the Station Casinos empire,” Green added.

“Several of the more locally oriented hotels were well-known for their bingo rooms, with games on, say, odd-numbered hours, and in between players might go get drinks or dinner, or gamble elsewhere in the casino,” he explained.

Bingo always has been a popular game, although in Las Vegas it has tended to be associated more with locals than with tourists,” Green told Casino.org.

While Bingo is still a bit synonymous with an older crowd, the game has experienced a recent resurgence in popular culture. In fact, the average player’s age has fallen to 53 from 58 just five years ago, according to research by YouGov.

But because the game is associated with church and charity fund-raisers, it also can reach across generations. Bingo has also been widely adopted by the LGBTQ+ community. Events like drag Bingo have brought a new audience to the game. In communities across the US, drag bingo nights are hosted by a drag queen who entertains the crowds during the game. The social aspect of the game has undoubtably increased it’s popularity.

Supreme Court Ruling

Earlier this month, the US Supreme Court ruled that Texas cannot block the Ysleta del Sur Pueblo from offering bingo games on its reservation near El Paso.

The 5-4 ruling could mark the end of a nearly three-decade rift between the tribe and the state. Previously, a local federal district court and the US Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals ruled against the tribe. The decision extends the Supreme Court’s practice of often ruling in favor of tribal sovereignty.

But the ruling could have a larger impact on the gaming community.

In a recently published research note, Truist Securities gaming analyst Barry Jonas opined that the ruling could create additional conversations around legalization of casinos in Texas and prominent casino operators in nearby states, like Penn National Gaming, Caesars Entertainment and Boyd Gaming.