SLS Las Vegas Casino Will Have New Name: Sahara

Ever since first opening, the Sahara Hotel & Casino has been one of the main attractions in Las Vegas. The venue has been visited by famous world stars including Frank Sinatra, Sammy Davis, and Dean Martin. Later on, SLS was sold to the SBE Group and received a new name - SLS Las Vegas. SBE Group worked very hard to revitalize the venue. It spent about $415 million to rebrand the complex including the rename. After years of struggle, SBE decided to sell the property to Meruelo Group, which plans to rename the casino to, Sahara.

Announcement

According to the Vital Vegas report, the SLS rebrand will soon be completed with a positive outcome. The owner of the portal, Scott Roeben, said:

“Renaming SLS as Sahara is a brilliant move. It plays upon the storied history of the casino while saving a metric hell-ton of money by playing up an existing brand rather than trying to create a new one from scratch.”

Background

Under SBA Group ownership, SLS was initially very successful. Later on, SBA faced an enormous cash outflow and was forced to sell the property. It decided to vend SLS to Meruelo Group last year. The CEO of Meruelo Group, Alex Meruelo, had already maintained two casino venues – Grand Sierra Resort and Casino in Reno.

On this occasion, Meruelo said:

“I was told there was no way in hell that I would be able to turn the Grand Sierra around. If I can turn around the Grand Sierra Resort, I could do that at SLS.”

Casino Future

SLS will face some challenges in the following period. The casino is located in the northern part of the Las Vegas Strip. The whole area has been facing serious problems regarding functionality. The Las Vegas commercial area has drastically changed over the years. It seems to be a significant issue for emerging companies. Another company which used to be located on the Strip, Lucky Dragon, went bankrupt before making any profit.

Fontainebleau also expressed interest in building a property in the Strip area. After initial failure, the property will become Drew venue in upcoming years.

Commenting on the purchase, owner of Drew, Derek Stevens said:

“I question whether or not it can be a viable casino location.”

Source:

„SLS Las Vegas changes name to try and draw a crowd“, Erik Gibbs, calvinayre.com, June 6, 2019.