A flurry of renovations, openings and strategic pivots across Las Vegas and other U.S. gaming hubs is reshaping the land-based casino landscape as operators chase diversified revenue, convention traffic and fresh entertainment offerings. The moves, announced and underway in late 2025 and early 2026, show operators betting on integrated experiences and convention-driven demand even as some high-profile attractions struggle to find audiences.
Convention-driven investments and property overhauls
The Las Vegas Convention and Visitors Authority completed a $600 million renovation of the Las Vegas Convention Center’s legacy campus in early January 2026, a project timed to welcome CES and to bolster convention-related visitation for nearby casinos. The upgrade adds new meeting amenities and large-format digital branding opportunities that casino resorts hope will increase midweek room nights and food-and-beverage spending. (casino.guru)
Major operators are matching that infrastructure play with property investments. Red Rock Resorts said its $120 million expansion of Durango Casino & Resort, including roughly 25,000 sq ft of new casino space and added parking, is slated to complete by January 2026 as the company leans into suburban demand and local-market volume. (casino.org) Station Casinos is pushing a roughly $200 million renovation at Green Valley Ranch that will refresh nearly 500 rooms and add convention and meeting capacity in phases through early 2026, signaling a broad industry trend toward upgrading existing assets rather than only building new megaprojects. (gamingamerica.com)
New concepts, branded experiences and mixed results
Operators are also experimenting with branded and experiential offerings to draw younger demographics and provide reasons to visit beyond gaming. Caesars’ collaboration with celebrity partners will bring The Vanderpump Hotel to the Strip in 2026, part of a string of influencer and lifestyle tie-ins intended to broaden appeal. Meanwhile, Mattel and Palms created an UNO Social Club as an example of gaming and nostalgia intersecting with hospitality. (people.com)
Yet not every experiment has paid off. The closure of Spiegelworld’s DiscoWorld production at The Linq—shuttered after less than 18 months in operation—underscores the risk of large-scale entertainment investments when consumer habits or price sensitivity shift. Analysts point to factors such as higher resort fees, rising costs for dining and parking, and broader economic uncertainty as headwinds that can undercut new attractions. (the-sun.com)
Big builds, global ambitions and what to watch next
Beyond Las Vegas, large integrated-resort projects continue to move forward internationally, and major U.S. site redevelopments remain on the calendar. The long-awaited Hard Rock Las Vegas transformation of the Mirage site continues to advance as a multi-year, high-profile rebrand that will add a signature guitar tower and expanded gaming and convention capacity – a bet on long-term Strip demand even as short-term visitation ebbs and flows. (en.wikipedia.org)
Why this matters: the combination of convention-center improvements, targeted property renovations and branded leisure concepts shows operators positioning land-based casinos as diversified entertainment hubs rather than pure gaming venues. Investors and municipal planners will be watching whether convention traffic, new entertainment offerings and suburban market growth offset persistent consumer pushback on rising costs and sporadic show closures.
The Las Vegas Convention and Visitors Authority announcement is a bellwether for the market; operators from Strip giants to locals-focused companies are aligning capital plans to capture the convention and experiential visitor. Las Vegas Convention and Visitors Authority announcement
What to watch next – Q1 and Q2 2026:
Completion dates and early performance metrics from Durango and Green Valley Ranch renovations (January – early 2026). (casino.org)
CES and subsequent convention calendars to gauge whether LVCC upgrades translate into sustained resort bookings. (casino.guru)
Box-office and attendance reports for new branded venues and shows, which will reveal whether experiential bets can consistently replace or supplement gaming revenue. (the-sun.com)