Operation and renovations

Boulder Station was built with room for potential expansions.^[2] In December 1995, Boulder Station added several new amenities, including an 11-screen movie theater operated by Act III Theatres. Also added was an 8,000 sq ft (740 m²) child-care facility, and a 3,200 sq ft (300 m²) video game arcade.^[17][18] In response to customer requests, Boulder Station opened an 8,000 sq ft (740 m²), 600-seat bingo parlor in June 1996.^[19] In the late 1990s, Boulder Station launched its Very Important Seniors (VI$) program, offering special discounts to the large number of nearby elderly residents.^[20] The program subsequently expanded to other Station casinos.^[21] In 1999, Boulder Station and Sunset Station became the first hotel-casino properties in the Las Vegas Valley to offer pedicab service, transporting customers to and from their cars in the parking lot.^[22]

By April 1999, there were plans to add a 19-story hotel tower to the property, adding an additional 507 rooms.^[23] Tentative plans for a bowling alley and an expanded food court were approved in December 1999, as an early step towards eventual expansion plans.^[24] An expansion of the Railhead took place in 2000.^[25] In 2001, Station Casinos put out a request for proposals on expanding Boulder Station to include a bowling alley, an expansion and renovation of the casino, and the construction of a tunnel that would connect to the valet parking area. However, the company stated that such an expansion was not imminent, and that the cost, size and start date were still to be determined.^[26]

A $50 million renovation began on Boulder Station ahead of the August 2008 opening of its new, nearby competitor, Eastside Cannery. The project included the renovation of the slot floor, the poker room, the sports book, the hotel rooms, and the opening of a new bingo room.^[27] Boulder Station's buffet was also remodeled. During this time, the Railhead was closed as a concert venue so it could operate as a temporary buffet while the original one underwent remodeling, which concluded in November 2008. During the remodel, upcoming concert acts from the Railhead were moved to other Station properties.^{[28][27][29][30][31]} A new table game, Two Cards High, was field-tested at Boulder Station during a 90-day trial period in 2009.^[32] A renovation of the hotel's 300 rooms was completed in October 2011, following renovations of the poker room, the Broiler Steakhouse, and the Feast Buffet.^[33] As of 2012, Boulder Station included Pasta Cucina, an Italian restaurant that received a "B+" in a review from the Las Vegas Review-Journal.^[34]

As of Boulder Station's 20th anniversary, the property had retained 115 of its original employees from its opening day.^[35][10] A rally protesting Station Casinos' labor practices was held at Boulder Station in August 2014, and was organized by the Culinary Workers Union.^[36] As of September 2016, Boulder Station had 1,200 employees; 576 of them were eligible to vote in a Culinary Workers Union ballot that sought representation from the union.^[37] That month, in a vote organized by the Culinary Workers Union and conducted by the National Labor Relations Board, employees voted in favor of unionizing Boulder Station by 355 to 177.^[38] Boulder Station would become the second Station Casinos property to be unionized, after the Station-managed Graton Resort & Casino in California ratified the company's first union contract in 2014.^[38] In August 2020, a majority of the union employees signed a petition asking that they no longer be represented by the Culinary union. The union filed an unfair labor practice charge against Station Casinos, alleging that the company had unlawfully withdrawn representation.^[39]

Boulder Station is the second oldest Station Casinos property, after Palace Station.^[33] The casino contains 89,443 sq ft (8,309.5 m²).^[40]

Incidents

In November 2000, a man crashed a vehicle into Boulder Station, which subsequently sued the driver and the car's owner for $21,790 in damages.^[41] In 2002, a 30-year-old armed man robbed a change booth inside Boulder Station and later opened fire while fleeing through the casino, injuring a slot employee. The robber was killed by a security guard.^[42][43] In 2003, a 20-year-old man was shot and killed on the top-floor of Boulder Station's parking garage, after previously fighting with another man.^[44][45] In 2004, two men were shot in the parking lot, resulting in one death.^{[46][47][48][49]} On December 31, 2008, a 53-year-old man made a bomb threat against Boulder Station as part of a robbery attempt to pay his medical bills, prompting the evacuation of the casino area. The man was later arrested, and it was discovered that he had no bomb.^[50]

In August 2016, a hotel employee was battered and sexually assaulted by a 22-year-old man in one of the rooms on the 10th floor.^{[51][52][53][54]} During the same month, a security officer for the property was patrolling the parking garage when he was beaten by three teenagers who took his gun.^[55] A shooting occurred in the parking lot in May 2017, when a man shot at another man in self-defense during an attempted robbery.^[56] In October 2017, a woman was robbed of her purse in the parking lot.^[57] In July 2018, two people exchanged shots at each other during an altercation in the parking lot. The incident ended when a security officer, who had been shot twice, fired at one of the suspects.^[58][59]