Rio Las Vegas to Reopen Dec. 22, Mostly

By Scott Roeben, on November 12 2020
2 min read 7 comments
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There are just a handful of Las Vegas casinos that haven’t reopened since the shutdown on March 18, 2020 due to the pandemic.

A glaring omission from the Caesars Entertainment roster of Vegas casinos has been Rio, but now the off-Strip casino has announced it will be back online as of Dec. 22, 2020.

That’s right. It took a pandemic to make people miss the Rio, and now she’s coming back. Well, most of her, anyway. But let’s not get bogged down in details.

Rio
Let’s Rio again, already.

As with a number of Las Vegas casinos, Rio’s reopening will have some caveats.

The hotel part of Rio will only operate stays Thursday through Monday.

On the bright side, the casino will be open seven days a week. It’s worth noting Caesars was careful not to say its table games would operate 24 hours a day, seven days a week. Places like
Circus Circus have dramatically cut back their table games hours due to soft demand.

Rio view
One of the best things about the Rio is the view from the Rio.

A very bright side to the Rio reopening is one of our favorite Vegas shows, Penn & Teller, will relaunch as well.

Penn & Teller
Welcome back, miscreants.

Chippendales, not so much. We trust it’s because the show is a little too interactive.

Poor Chippendales guys. With their show closed, how are they going to meet women now? The struggle is real.

Chippendales
Here, a Chippendales dancer socially distances himself from his clothing.

“Wow” and the Comedy Cellar will not reopen when Rio does.

Restaurant options will be limited to: All-American Bar & Grille, Hash House A Go Go, VooDoo Steak and the Sports Deli.

Off the table for now are the Carnival World Buffet, Guy Fieri’s El Burro Borracho, Pho Da Nang Vietnamese Kitchen, KJ Dim Sum & Seafood and Royal India Bistro.

Royal India Bistro
One of the most underrated restaurants in Vegas is going to be a minute.

Many of the Rio’s bars will reopen, including Shutters, iBar, Purple Zebra, Masquerade and the Race & Sports Book Bar.

Self-parking will remain free, valet will remain closed.

Rio Kiss Minigolf
Sorry, tongue fans. No mention of Kiss minigolf reopening.

It’s worth noting that while Caesars Entertainment continues to operate Rio, the company no longer owns it. Rio is owned by Dreamscape Companies, from the folks at Imperial Companies, a real estate investment company.

For that matter, Caesars Entertainment isn’t even really owned by Caesars Entertainment anymore. The company recently merged with Eldorado Resorts.

Mental gymnastics aside, and despite the limited dining options at Rio, it will be great to have her back.

Given the closure of Palms (it still hasn’t reopened, and no date has been set to do so), it’s been a little dreary on that part of Flamingo Road.

The return of Rio and Penn & Teller means Las Vegas is slowly getting its VooDoo back.