The general manager of the Golden Nugget Lake Tahoe told gaming regulators last week that “every square foot of the property” would see some type of renovation during its latest redevelopment.
During a Gaming Control Board hearing in Carson City, general manager Jason Sides said the initial redevelopment phase had started on the 539-room hotel and 25,000-square-foot casino. One of the resort’s two towers has been taken offline so the improvements can be made, and he expects the first floor of renovated rooms to be available by October, just in time for the busiest months of the year.
“We have big plans for the property with a significant capital investment,” Sides told the regulators, but he did not provide a cost estimate for the project.
Following its purchase last year by Houston billionaire Tilman Fertitta’s privately held Fertitta Entertainment, the property is now operating under its fifth name since its opening in the 1960s.
Sides said a Salt Grass Steakhouse — one of several dozen restaurant brands owned by Fertitta — will open by the fall. He said Mastro’s Steak House, a high-end Fertitta restaurant brand, will also be added to the property.
On the Golden Nugget website, images show a renovated lobby area and room renderings.
“You’ll see subsequent phases of other construction [throughout the year],” Sides said. “We’ve seen a nice surge of business and a lot of bodies [in the Tahoe market] in the past few weeks. So that’s good to see.”
A representative for Fetitta’s company declined to comment beyond what was said at the hearing. The renovations are expected to be completed by 2025.
The resort has been known as Hard Rock Lake Tahoe since 2015. The Nugget is the last of the four Tahoe casinos visitors see along Highway 50 as they enter Stateline from California. The other three Stateline resorts are Bally’s Lake Tahoe and the Caesars Entertainment-owned Harvey’s and Harrah’s.
Control board senior economic analyst Michael Lawton said the South Tahoe market saw its highest gaming revenue total in 2000 when it produced $352.6 million in gaming revenue.
Lawton said South Tahoe experienced a steep gaming revenue decline — and is almost 31 percent below its peak totals — during the last two decades due to the recession and competition from Northern California tribal casinos. In the last three years, the Sacramento area has seen the opening of three new tribal-owned casinos.
But there is hope the market will rebound.
According to the control board, South Lake Tahoe’s gaming revenue through May is 5.6 percent ahead of the first five months of 2023. Last year, the Tahoe market produced more than $243.8 million in gaming revenue, which was down 7.5 percent from 2022, but is more than 8 percent ahead of 2019, the last full year of gaming revenue for Nevada before the pandemic.
“We saw this as a great opportunity,” Fertitta told state gaming regulators a year ago. “We will take this property and totally transform it. And, as we always do, add the Golden Nugget name on it. We always expect it to be one of the top properties in the market.”
Investments beyond the casino floors
Tahoe has seen recent non-gaming investments.
The Golden Nugget is across from the $80 million Tahoe Blue Event Center. The 132,000-square-foot facility at the corner of U.S. Highway 50 and Lake Parkway will host conferences and concerts and will serve as the 36-game home hockey arena for the expansion ECHL’s Tahoe Knight Monsters.
On the California side of Highway 50, Orlando-based Margaritaville Resorts transformed the 399-room, non-gaming Lake Tahoe Resort Hotel into Margaritaville Resort Lake Tahoe. The renovation gave the location a Key West-style theme at the base of the Heavenly Mountain Ski Resort and adjacent to the casinos just across the state line.
The property is Fertitta’s third Golden Nugget in Nevada, along with resorts in downtown and Laughlin. Fertitta’s company also operates Golden Nugget hotel-casinos in Atlantic City, Biloxi, Mississippi, Lake Charles, Louisiana, and Cripple Creek, Colorado.
Fertitta’s company gained preliminary approval from the control board Wednesday to finance part of last year’s acquisition of the property. The Gaming Commission is expected to take up the matter on July 25.
“Basically, Tillman Fertitta is getting paid back for his initial investment in the project,” said control board member George Assad. “It’s a pretty simple transaction, but just a lot of legal jargon.”
Fertitta announced an all-cash bid for the Hard Rock Lake Tahoe in March 2023, buying the operation from Paragon Gaming. Five months later, the deal was approved by state gaming regulators and the property took on the Golden Nugget name. The property had hundreds of music memorabilia items that were returned to Hard Rock.
The property opened in the 1960s as the Sahara Tahoe. It has also been known as the High Sierra Resort and Lake Tahoe Horizon.
Fertitta Entertainment also has plans to build a 2,420-room, 43-story hotel-casino on 6 acres at Harmon Avenue and the Strip that it acquired in 2022 for $270 million. In May, the company said it was asking Clark County for permission to connect the planned resort to a pedestrian overpass bridge.
The company owns the NBA’s Houston Rockets and its Landry’s hospitality division includes a restaurant segment with roughly 520 outlets and entertainment attractions.
Fertitta, who is a cousin of Red Rock Resorts CEO Frank Fertitta III and Vice Chairman Lorenzo Fertitta, has also owned a 6.1 percent stake in Wynn Resorts since 2022 as a passive investment. He is the second-largest individual shareholder in the company behind Elaine Wynn.
Mojave (Nev.) head football coach Wes Pacheco announced on Sunday morning that he’s stepping down from his position, according to a social media post.
Pacheco announced his resignation after six seasons at the helm of the Rattlers, putting together a 29-22 overall record from 2020-2025.
“I have officially stepped down as Head Coach of the Mojave Football Program,” Pacheco said in his social media post. “Thank you to Principal Cole for giving me the opoortunity make an impact on the lives of Mojave Student-Athletes. I am grateful and blessed to have labored through a 6-year journey of successes, failures, life lessons, character building and growth with the student-athletes myself and my coaching staff have served. I will forever love my Mojave Family, the Mojave Community and believe in the notion that SUCCESS can be attained by showcasing character, treating everyone with respect, and always have the courage to dream big and trust that “ATTACKING THE HARD WORK” & “HIGH MOTORING EVERYTHING” can yield SUCCESS that you want to achieve in life!”
During Pacheco’s half dozen seasons leading Mojave, his best record came in the 2024 season when the Rattlers finished with a 12-1 record. Located out of North Las Vegas, Mojave had to compete against the likes of national high school football powerhouse Bishop Gorman during the regular season.
Mojave ended the last season with a 4-6 record and as the state’s No. 23rd ranked team, according to the final 2025 Nevada High School Football Massey Rankings.
Mojave High School, located in North Las Vegas, NV, is a dynamic public high school that fosters academic excellence, personal growth, and community involvement. Home of the Rattlers, MHS offers a wide range of academic programs, athletics, and extracurricular activities. With a strong commitment to student success, Mojave emphasizes leadership, college and career readiness, and a supportive school culture that prepares students for life beyond graduation.
For Nevada high school football fans looking to keep up with scores around the nation, staying updated on the action is now easier than ever with the Rivals High School Scoreboard. This comprehensive resource provides real-time updates and final scores from across the Silver State, ensuring you never miss a moment of the Friday night frenzy. From nail-biting finishes to dominant performances, the Rivals High School Scoreboard is your one-stop destination for tracking all the high school football excitement across Nevada.
A recent Review-Journal letter to the editor mischaracterized Sen. Catherine Cortez Masto’s Southern Nevada Economic Development and Conservation Act, also known as the Clark County Lands bill. As the former executive director of the Nevada Conservation League, I wholeheartedly support this legislation, so I wanted to set the record straight.
Sen. Cortez Masto has been working on this bill for years in partnership with state and local governments, conservation groups like the NCL and local area tribes. It’s true that the Clark County lands bill would open 25,000 acres to help Las Vegas grow responsibly, while setting aside 2 million acres for conservation. It would also help create more affordable housing throughout the valley while ensuring our treasured public spaces can be preserved for generations to come.
What is not correct is that the money from these land sales would go to the federal government’s coffers. In fact, the opposite is true.
The 1998 Southern Nevada Public Lands Management Act is a landmark bill that identified specific public land for future sale and created a special account ensuring all land sale revenues would come back to Nevada. In accordance with that law 5 percent of revenue from land transfers goes to the state of Nevada for general education purposes, 10 percent goes to the Southern Nevada Water Authority for needed water infrastructure and 85 percent supports conservation and environmental mitigation projects in Southern Nevada. This legislation has provided billions to Clark County and will continue to benefit generations of Southern Nevadans. Sen. Cortez Masto’s lands bill builds upon the act’s success.
So here’s the good news: All of the money generated from land made available for sale under Sen. Cortez Masto’s bill would be sent to the special account created by the 1998 law. Rather than going to an unaccountable federal government, the proceeds would continue to help kids in Vegas get a better education, bolster outdoor recreation and modernize Southern Nevada’s infrastructure.
I know how important it is that money generated from the sale of public land in Nevada stay in the hands of Nevadans, and so does the senator. That’s why she opposed a Republican effort last year to sell off 200,000 acres of land in Clark County and other areas of the country that would have sent those dollars directly to Washington.
Public land management in Nevada should benefit Nevadans. We should protect sacred cultural sites and beloved recreation spaces, responsibly transfer land for affordable housing when needed and ensure our state has the resources it needs to grow sustainably. I will continue working with Sen. Cortez Masto to advocate for legislation, such as the Clark County lands bill, that puts the needs of Nevadans first.
Paul Selberg writes from Las Vegas.
click to expand photos
Las Vegas High’s baseball team claimed a 3-2 home win over Coronado on Friday.
Las Vegas (9-13-1) next hosts Rancho at 10 a.m. Saturday. Coronado (13-14) hosts Chaparral at 3:30 p.m. Monday.
Contact Alex Wright at awright@reviewjournal.com. Follow @AlexWright1028 on X.
Oil prices rise anew after a US-Iran standoff in the Strait of Hormuz strands tankers
Video: 8 Children Killed in Louisiana Shooting, Police Say
Poetry Challenge: Memorize “The More Loving One” by W.H. Auden
Photos: How overfishing in Southeast Asia is an ecological and human crisis
Blue Origin successfully reused its New Glenn rocket
Distress call captures tanker under fire, Iran shuts Hormuz trapping thousands of sailors
Trump ally diGenova tapped to lead DOJ probe into Brennan over Russia probe origins
Experts reveal why ‘nonnamaxxing’ trend may improve mental, physical health