Casino News Roundup: Las Vegas Wins Back Canadians & New Strip Hotel Planned
Welcome to the Casino Daily News Roundup - your briefing on the latest news from the global casino industry. We bring you the biggest stories from across the sector, covering everything from major business deals and revenue figures to new openings and regulatory developments.
Las Vegas "At Par" Deal Draws 50,000 Canadians As City Fights To Win Back Visitors
Las Vegas has found a practical answer to one of its most pressing tourism problems - and the early numbers suggest it is working.
More than 50,000 Canadian visitors have taken advantage of the "At Par" currency parity promotion run by Derek Stevens' trio of downtown properties - Circa Resort, the D Las Vegas and Golden Gate Hotel and Casino - in the three months since it launched.
The program treats the Canadian dollar at parity with the US dollar regardless of the daily exchange rate, applying to hotel stays, gaming, beverages and select entertainment offerings.
It has generated more than 5,100 hotel bookings since launch and runs through August 31.
The backdrop makes the results all the more significant.
The LVCVA's annual visitation report - published this week - confirmed that Canadian travel to Las Vegas fell 17.4% in 2025, making it the single largest contributing factor to the city's overall 8% visitation decline.
Las Vegas welcomed around 38.5 million visitors last year - the lowest figure since 2021 - with geopolitical tensions and the exchange rate between the Canadian and US dollar cited as the primary deterrents for a market that historically accounts for around one million visits a year.
Stevens' initiative takes the currency problem off the table entirely, offering Canadian visitors a straightforward value guarantee rather than asking them to gamble on exchange rates.
The "At Par" program is not the only affordability play in the market right now.
MGM and Caesars have both launched all-inclusive summer packages, Circus Circus has opened a bingo hall as part of a budget-focused push, and Southwest Airlines has announced 11 new nonstop routes from Harry Reid International.
Taken together, the industry is clearly in a period of active recalibration toward value - and Stevens' Canadian promotion is perhaps the most targeted example of an operator identifying a specific problem and engineering a direct solution.
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Heart-Shaped Hotel & Casino Planned For Former Failed Las Vegas Strip Project Site
One of the Las Vegas Strip's most conspicuous eyesores could soon become one of its most distinctive new properties.
The 12-acre site of the long-abandoned SkyVue observation wheel project - directly opposite Mandalay Bay on the south Strip - has been sold to a local real estate developer for $70million, with plans unveiled for an 874-room hotel-casino built around a giant heart-shaped design.
The proposed development would feature a heart-shaped LED marquee visible from the Strip, a Fremont Street Experience-style covered pedestrian plaza, a theater and a 265-foot "midair restaurant" that would incorporate the two concrete columns left standing since the SkyVue project went bankrupt in 2014.
No financing details or construction timeline were disclosed alongside the announcement, which means the project remains at the concept stage.
Las Vegas has a long history of ambitious Strip proposals that never break ground, and a development of this scale - on a prominent but historically troubled site - will face scrutiny from investors and analysts.
That said, the south Strip has been one of the more active development zones in the city in recent years, with the Hard Rock Guitar Hotel rising nearby and NBA arena proposals also targeting the corridor.
If the project advances, it would bring a genuinely distinctive new identity to a stretch of the Strip that has been defined for years by an unfinished hole in the skyline.
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PokerStars Shuts Down In Ontario As FanDuel Prepares To Take Over
PokerStars closed its Ontario operations on May 7 - effectively handing Canada's largest regulated online gambling market over to FanDuel.
The closure follows Flutter's strategic decision to consolidate its North American online poker business under the FanDuel brand following its acquisition of PokerStars' parent company.
Ontario launched its regulated iGaming market in April 2022 and has been one of the most successful open-market iGaming frameworks in the world, generating significant tax revenues and providing a template that Alberta is now following ahead of its own July 1 launch.
For PokerStars - once the dominant global online poker brand - the Ontario closure marks the end of its presence in Canada's most important regulated jurisdiction.
FanDuel's takeover of that player base, combined with its number one position in US sportsbook and iGaming, further consolidates Flutter's grip on North American digital gambling.
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DraftKings Posts Strong Q1 Beat & Flags Major Prediction Markets Push For NFL Season
DraftKings delivered a clean beat across the board in Q1 2026.
Revenue of $1.65billion came in ahead of the $1.63bn consensus, EPS of $0.20 beat the $0.16 estimate by 25%, and adjusted EBITDA of $167.9m cleared the $152.6m forecast.
The company swung to a quarterly profit of $21.1m from a loss of $33.9m in Q1 2025.
Monthly unique payers grew 2% year-on-year to 3.9 million, with average revenue per player up 15% to $141.
CEO Jason Robins pointed to the company's Super App and prediction markets ambitions as the key growth pillars for the rest of 2026.
DraftKings has already launched its own prediction market product and - unlike BetMGM, which flagged Kalshi and Polymarket as competitive threats in its own Q1 call last week - is treating the category as an opportunity rather than a problem.
A major NFL season push is planned, with the company investing heavily in prediction market infrastructure and product development ahead of September.
