A US first
When Ojos Locos Sports Cantina Y Casino and the freshly renovated Hotel Jefe in North Las Vegas open for business next week, the pair will make US history.
first hotel-casino targeted specifically at a Latino market
The result of a partnership between Fifth Street Gaming (FSG) and Ojos Locos Sports Cantina, Monday’s opening will debut the US’s first hotel-casino targeted specifically at a Latino market. Las Vegas Locally shared the news via Twitter:
Las Vegas casino management company FSG and its Texas-based partner, the Mexican restaurant and sports bar chain Ojos, kick off their joint venture in a totally rebranded Lucky Club Hotel & Casino.
Citing a press release, the Las Vegas Review-Journal said the collaboration’s centerpiece was an Ojos Locos Sports Cantina in the middle of a “10,000-square-foot casino with a capacity of nearly 300 people.”
Community-tailored gambling hub
Lucky Club was already popular among North Las Vegas’s Hispanic community, as well as truckers. It remains to be seen if the old crowd takes to the new joint, with its fresh lineup of a sportsbook, 200 slot and gaming machines, and 35 seats at the restaurant’s video poker bar.
potential new attraction comes by way of the “Mexican Hooters” tag
Another potential extra attraction comes by way of the “Mexican Hooters” tag Ojos’s vice president of growth, Laura Caudillo, admits customers have identified her company with in the past.
In a statement, Caudillo said the FSG partnership enabled Ojos to bring its “first-ever Ojos gaming experience to market.” The Ojos exec added her firm looked forward to “welcoming the Latino community” to the hotel-casino’s “flagship location.”
Cheeky change
Eater Las Vegas, meanwhile, cited Caudillo as stating the new establishment “caters to the Latinx community through staff, language, and atmosphere.” She added that 80% of the music played at Ojos is of Latin origin, while most of its staff speak Spanish, and that signage “is written in Spanish, often with cheeky innuendos.”
The exec also said the refurbished hotel-casino’s restaurant had a deliberate “unfinished look,” Caudillo said the corrugated aluminum resembles patrons’ construction sites, but is still attractive.
“It’s nice, but not so nice that they don’t want to come in in their work boots.”