Rio on Thursday, May 9, 2019, in Las Vegas. (Benjamin Hager/Las Vegas Review-Journal) @BenjaminHphoto
This Feb. 9, 1989, photo shows groundbreaking ceremonies of Rio Vegas Hotel in Las Vegas. (Las Vegas Review-Journal, File)
This Aug. 7, 1995 rendering shows the Rio in Las Vegas. (Rio)
This August 1996, file photo shows the Rio Hotel and a new tower under construction. (Las Vegas Review-Journal, File)
This 1997 file photo shows the exterior of the Rio which has begun a $200 million expansion to add convention space to boost midweek occupancy and could lead to the opening of a separately themed $600 million hotel-casino complex within three years. (Las Vegas Review-Journal, File)
In this 1997 file photo shows Rio at the northeast corner of South Valley View Boulevard and West Flamingo Road in Las Vegas. (Las Vegas Review-Journal, File)
In this 1997 file photo shows Village Seafood Buffet in the Rio in Las Vegas. (Las Vegas Review-Journal, File)
This 1998 file photo shows the Rio sign in Las Vegas. (Las Vegas Review-Journal, File)
In this March, 1999, file photo, the newly constructed $80 million, 110,000-square-foot convention center inside the Rio hotel and casino 3700 West Flamingo Road at the northeast corner with South Valley View Boulevard. (Las Vegas Review-Journal, File)
This March 18, 1999, file photo shows Rio Hotel Convention/Special events center with ceiling that can rise or lower. (Las Vegas Review-Journal, File)
In this 1999 file photo shows buffet customers wait in line at Rio in Las Vegas. (Las Vegas Review-Journal, file)
In this June 3, 2005, file photo, players prepare for the start of the World Series of Poker at Rio in Las Vegas. (Las Vegas Review-Journal, File)
Comedic illusionists Penn Jillette, left, and Teller perform an illusion during their “Penn & Teller” show at the Rio hotel-casino Monday, Sept. 25, 2007, in Las Vegas. (Las Vegas Review-Journal, file)
In this April 25, 2009, file photo shows a Sapphire Gentlemen’s Club dancer talks with man at the Sapphire Pool at the Rio hotel-casino in Las Vegas. The Rio and Sapphire Gentlemen’s Club have team up for a second year to bring dancers from the club to host European style (topless) pool parties at the hotel-casino. (K.M. Cannon/Las Vegas Review-Journal, File)
In this June 15, 2012, file photo shows the Rio hotel-casino in Las Vegas. (Las Vegas Review-Journal, file)
Rio on Thursday, May 9, 2019, in Las Vegas. (Benjamin Hager/Las Vegas Review-Journal) @BenjaminHphoto
The Rio is seen on Tuesday, Oct. 8, 2019 in Las Vegas. (L.E. Baskow/Las Vegas Review-Journal) @Left_Eye_Images
Rio on Thursday, May 9, 2019, in Las Vegas. (Benjamin Hager/Las Vegas Review-Journal) @BenjaminHphoto
An aerial view of the Rio All-Suite Hotel and Casino from the Goodyear blimp on Tuesday, January 7, 2020. (Michael Quine/Las Vegas Review-Journal) @Vegas88s
Poker player Bobby Law ‘high fives” his wife Kecia after winning a pot at the World Series of Poker at the Rio Hotel/Casino on Monday, July 11, 2005. Law, from Wisconsin, went all in and got an ace on the flop to end up with tree aces. (Las Vegas Review-Journal, file)
When it opened on Jan. 15, 1990, the $85-million Rio Suite Hotel literally broke new ground on the Las Vegas resort scene.
The Rio was the first Las Vegas resort to put the buffet kitchen in the dining area, open a large-scale nightclub and enhance its pool with white sand and parties, which brought crowds to the off-Strip Brazilian-themed property, developer Anthony Marnell told the Review-Journal.
