The Monarch Casino Black Hawk was formerly known as the Riviera Black Hawk and the following review was written about the previous casino. The new Monarch Casino opened in April 2012 - Let me start off by saying that there are a lot of better places to play at than the Riviera. When I arrived I was looking forward to playing at the Riviera since I never played there before. But the 1st table I walked up to and started playing the dealer was pretty rude. So I played a few hands and left thinking maybe that dealer just had a bad day. Then, I went up to the buffet and the lady at the register was really rude as well so I just left and went to the Ameristar Casino and had a great time.