Exhibit 31.1

                     Certification of the Principal Executive Officer
                Pursuant to Section 302 of the Sarbanes-Oxley Act of 2002


I, William L. Westerman, certify that:

       1.     I have reviewed this annual report on Form 10-K of Riviera
              Holdings Corporation;

       2.     Based on my knowledge, this report does not contain any untrue
              statement of a material fact or omit to state a material fact
              necessary to make the statements made, in light of the
              circumstances under which such statements were made, not
              misleading with respect to the period covered by this report;

       3.     Based on my knowledge, the financial statements, and other
              financial information included in this report, fairly present in
              all material respects the financial condition, results of
              operations and cash flows of the registrant as of, and for, the
              periods presented in this report;

       4.     The registrant's other certifying officer and I are responsible
              for establishing and maintaining disclosure controls and
              procedures (as defined in Exchange Act Rules 13a-15(e) and
              15d-15(e)) and internal control over financial reporting (as
              defined in Exchange Act Rules 13a-15(f) and 15d-15(f)), for the
              registrant and have:

              a.    Designed such disclosure controls and procedures, or caused
                    such disclosure controls and procedures to be designed under
                    our supervision, to ensure that material information
                    relating to the registrant, including its consolidated
                    subsidiaries, is made known to us by others within those
                    entities, particularly during the period in which this
                    report is being prepared;

              b.    Designed such internal control over financial reporting, or
                    caused such internal control over financial reporting to be
                    designed under our supervision, to provide reasonable
                    assurance regarding the reliability of financial reporting
                    and the preparation of financial statements for external
                    purposes in accordance with generally accepted accounting
                    principles;

              c.    Evaluated the effectiveness of the registrant's disclosure
                    controls and procedures and presented in this report our
                    conclusions about the effectiveness of the disclosure
                    controls and procedures, as of the end of the period covered
                    by this report based on such evaluation; and

              d.    Disclosed in this report any change in the registrant's
                    internal control over financial reporting that occurred
                    during the registrant's fourth fiscal quarter that has
                    materially affected, or is reasonably likely to materially
                    affect, the registrant's internal control over financial
                    reporting; and

       5.     The registrant's other certifying officer and I have disclosed,
              based on our most recent evaluation of internal control over
              financial reporting, to the registrant's auditors and the audit
              committee of the registrant's board of directors:

              a.    All significant deficiencies and material weaknesses in the
                    design or operation of internal control over financial
                    reporting which are reasonably likely to adversely affect
                    the registrant's ability to record, process, summarize and
                    report financial information; and

              b.    Any fraud, whether or not material, that involves management
                    or other employees who have a significant role in the
                    registrant's internal control over financial reporting.

         Date:    March 10, 2008

         William L. Westerman
         William L. Westerman
         Chief Executive Officer


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