Downtown Cancun
Casino By Yak at Plaza Las Américas: the room that reopened
Casino By Yak is open. It sits on the second floor of Plaza Las Américas, the big mall on Avenida Tulum Sur in downtown Cancun, and its Google listing shows 10 a.m. to 1 a.m. every day, 3.8 out of 5 from 275 reviews, checked on 10 September 2026. If you searched for "Royal Yak Cancun" and Google said the place was permanently closed, that label belongs to another listing: the old address, taken down on 28 January 2026.
Checked on · 8 min read · Main query: «royal yak cancun»
Royal Yak, By Yak, Yak 8: why the name keeps moving
One casino, a long list of spellings. Royal Yak is the name it traded under for years and the one people still type into a search box; Casino By Yak is the name it reopened with. Both belong to Codere, which also runs the room inside Plaza Paseo, the Jackpot room in Playa del Carmen and a Yak room in Chetumal.
| Google listing | Address | Rating | Status |
|---|---|---|---|
| Royal Yak Casino — claimed | Av. Tulum Sur 260-A4A, SM 7 | 3.8 · 275 reviews | Open |
| ROYAL YAK CANCÚN — unclaimed | Av. Tulúm 4, 77503 | 4.0 · 4 reviews | Permanently closed, 28 January 2026 |
| Yak 8 Cancún — unclaimed | Av. Tulum Sur, SM 7 | No reviews | No status published |
Royal Yak CancúnCasino By Yak
The rename came with a renovation. The first firm date is 27 February 2026, when the local outlet mxvive reported the reopening. No source gives the exact day, so the honest answer is: not later than that.
Where it is, and how to get there
The address is Av. Tulum Sur 260-A4A, SM 7, and the floor comes from the casino's own Instagram: second floor of Plaza Las Américas. From the avenue you see a mall, not a casino. This is downtown, not the beach strip, and Jubilee, the only room in the city that never closes, is about 300 metres (330 yards) up the same avenue.
The useful city bus is the R-1, which runs the length of Boulevard Kukulcán and then up Avenida Tulum, stopping in front of the mall; you pay the driver in cash, in pesos, around 10 for a city ride and 12 from the Hotel Zone. Here is the part nobody mentions: the buses stop running around 10:30 p.m. and the casino stays open until 1 a.m. Sort out the ride back before you go in — Cancun taxis have no meter, so agree the fare in pesos first. See the R-1 bus and taxi prices.
Opening hours: two versions, and no official site to settle it
| Source | Hours it publishes |
|---|---|
| Google Maps, 10 September 2026 | 10 a.m. to 1 a.m., daily |
| mxvive and the casino's own Facebook posts | 11 a.m. to 2 a.m., bingo from 5 p.m. |
| Plaza Las Américas | 10 a.m. to 10 p.m. |
What is solid is the relationship between the last two rows: the casino closes later than the mall that houses it. At 1 a.m. the shops have been shut for hours, so ask which door you leave by. The phone on the listing is +52 998 892 4361.
What is inside after the remodel, per the reopening announcements
- A rebuilt traditional bingo hall, played on paper cards.
- "Up to 180" machines with Zitro, IGT and EGT hardware, say the announcements; an older catalogue says 50. The real number is not published.
- Two sports-betting areas, built out ahead of the 2026 World Cup.
- Food and drink à la carte, charged separately: nothing here is complimentary.
- Separate smoking and non-smoking sections, and an event room seating 200.
- A local crowd — the casino itself puts visitors from the city at 95 per cent.
The paper bingo is what sets this room apart: a 2023 review calls it the only casino in Cancun with paper cards, and mxvive describes it as the only one in the city at weekends. Table games are a different story — reviews from 2017 and 2022 describe blackjack, craps and roulette, but the casino never published which tables came back after the remodel.
One of the most comfortable casinos in Cancun, at least in the sportsbook area.
Five-star Google review, 12 July 2026
What the 275 reviews say
The rating is 3.8 from 275 reviews: 124 five-star, 54 four-star, 39 three-star, 20 two-star and 36 one-star. We do not add a score of our own. Because the listing is new, the topics Google pulls out come with small counts and they come in English: air conditioning 7 mentions, atmosphere 5, awards 4, smoke 4, quiet 3, sportsbook 2. Two complaints are specific enough to repeat — "they charge you interest for paying at the terminal" (two stars, 7 May 2023) and "every drink you have, you pay for" (two stars, 22 December 2019).
At the door: age, ID and money
The minimum age is 18, not 21: Mexico's federal gaming regulation bars minors from betting areas, the age of majority here is 18, and Codere spells it out in the footer of its venue site. Bring your passport — Cancun venues that publish a rule name it as the one option for a foreign visitor, and you need ID for the loyalty card anyway. More in ID and age.
You play in pesos: article 10 of the federal regulation requires bets in national currency, so a Mexican casino cannot take your dollars even though the shop next door will, and article 11 bars it from lending you money. On tax, Quintana Roo charges 10 per cent on what you put into play — the money you load, not what you win — and the federal tax on a prize is 1 per cent, withheld by the house. The 21 per cent that circulates online does not apply here; see taxes on winnings.
Who operates it, and what changes online
The room belongs to Codere, the group with the largest footprint in Quintana Roo: four venues in the state, two of them in Cancun. The footer of its venue site lists six permit holders licensed by Mexico's Interior Ministry, among them Libros Foráneos with permit 2768, the holder behind the group's online domain. The Yak name lives inside that product too: Codere's app says its "game of the week" may sit "in Casino Codere, YAK or Live Casino".
The practical difference: the machines here are physical and have no trial version, so there is no way to watch how a game behaves before you load money onto the house card. Free play exists only online, and we could not confirm it on Codere's own platform, so we do not claim it is there. What is verified is in playing online from Cancun.
Frequently asked questions
Is Casino By Yak open?
Yes. The claimed Google listing, checked on 10 September 2026, shows the room as open, rated 3.8 from 275 reviews, with hours of 10 a.m. to 1 a.m. daily. It reopened after a renovation no later than 27 February 2026.
Why does Google say Royal Yak is permanently closed?
Because there are three listings for the same business and the closure notice, dated 28 January 2026, sits on the one for the old address at Av. Tulúm 4. Search the old name and the database answers with the dead record instead of the live one.
Is there still paper bingo?
The reopening announcements describe a rebuilt traditional bingo hall, and three earlier sources agree it was the only casino in Cancun playing on paper cards. No schedule is published; the casino's own posts put bingo from 5 p.m.
Can I pay in US dollars, and can I get in at 18?
No dollars: article 10 of the federal gaming regulation requires bets to be placed in Mexican pesos. And yes, 18 is enough — that is the age of majority in Mexico, and the 21 you will read elsewhere comes from a reform that was never approved.