Breaking the mold
Breaking the mold
Hundreds were built, but which casino resorts truly changed the landscape of gaming development in Las Vegas? Here's a decade by decade look at some of Sin City's most influential casino resorts.
By Paul Doocey
In its 100 year history, Las Vegas has seen the rise and decline of hundreds of casino resorts. Many have been mundane and utilitarian-built to take advantage of demographics and location, they were razed when the crowds moved on or the need to have a bigger and better facility took hold, and outside of the excitement of seeing them implode, their passing was little noted by either the local populace or the gaming industry. Such is the ephemeral nature of the casino business in Las Vegas-new and bold is almost always seen as advantageous to old and established.
Despite the transitory nature of casino development, it would be unfair to say there have been no landmark resort developments in Las Vegas since the re-legalization of casino wagering in the state in 1931. Indeed, each decade can boast a handful of properties and innovative developers/owners that dared to be different.
So what better way to celebrate Las Vegas' 100th anniversary then to give a nod to those projects that broke the mold. Below you will find a list of the Las Vegas properties the editors of Casino Journal and Ascend Media Gaming Group found to be truly evolutionary, organized by the decade in which they opened. The list was compiled using numerous materials and resources, some of which bear special note: the book The First 100: Portraits of the Men and Women Who Shaped Las Vegas, edited by A.D. Hopkins and K.J. Evans and published by Huntington Press; The Gaming Hall of Fame, which is maintained by the American Gaming Association; and the highly informative and entertaining Las Vegas Strip Historical Web site which can be found at www.lvstriphistory.com.
1930s
The Meadows (1931)
"Potent in its charm, mysterious in its fascination, the Meadows, America's most luxurious casino, will open its doors tonight and formally embark upon a career which all liberal-minded persons in the West will watch closely."-Las Vegas Age
In many ways, 1931 was a watershed year for Nevada and Las Vegas. The Divorce Bill was passed, reducing the state residency requirements for couples seeking separation to six weeks which, combined with laws that allowed same day marriages, made Reno and Las Vegas the ultimate destinations for those seeking either marital bliss or marital dissolution-suffusing the region with a risque aura it maintains to this day. That year also saw the finalization of plans to build Hoover Dam, which eventually led to thousands of people discovering and re-locating to Southern Nevada. And last but not least, 1931 saw casino gaming re-legalized after a 20 year hiatus.
On paper, the immediate benefactors of renewed casino gambling were the clubs and bars in downtown Las Vegas on or near Fremont Street, many of which applied for and eventually received gaming licenses. However, one new casino did open that year that many consider a forerunner to the modern gaming resort. That property was the Meadows.
Indeed, the Meadows did have a number of "firsts." It was arguably the first large-size gaming palace to operate outside of what was then the downtown Las Vegas area when it opened its doors on the corner of Fremont St. and Charleston Blvd. It was the first to incorporate the elements of a fully-functioning casino and resort hotel, which featured 30 rooms, all with electricity and baths. It was also one of the first properties to really market an entertainment element-going so far as to hire a Broadway producer to create a revue specifically for its showroom. Indeed, the Meadows was a far-cry from other Las Vegas casinos, most of which were little more than bars that catered to the local "jeans and boots" crowd.
The Meadows owed its unique style to Tony Cornero, a California-based rum runner and gambling ship owner who evidently wanted to transfer the style he developed on his casino ships to land-based properties. As such, he can be considered a harbinger of the criminally-tainted casino entrepreneurs that were soon to make Las Vegas their stomping grounds.
For better or worse, Cornero did not last long at the Meadows, selling the property in 1932. He did remain interested in Las Vegas however, and was one of the visionaries behind The Stardust, which opened shortly after his death in 1955.
As for the Meadows, it faded out of popularity as bigger and more lavish resorts opened in the 1940s and 1950s.
Other properties of note that debuted in the 1930s-The Northern Club, Las Vegas Club and Boulder Club all received gaming licenses in 1930s, making Fremont Street Las Vegas' first casino hub.
1940s
El Rancho (1941)
Flamingo Hotel (1946)
"A sprawling group of hacienda-like cottages built around a central café, night club and casino. Instead of hiding its glittering swimming pool in some patio, they stuck it in their show window, smack on Route 91…The Rancho somehow has managed to make the riveter, the carpenter and the truck driver at home in overalls in the same rooms with men and women in smart clothes, with an eloping Lana Turner posing for news photographs. No resort is likely to succeed in Vegas that doesn't accomplish this democracy."-Saturday Evening Post
"To capture its sweep and grandeur you have to be conditioned by a Goldwyn set that's been dolled up by Orson Wells. The Flamingo is indeed a most colorful and amazing bird. Part of the plumage: 105 beautifully appointed hotel rooms, health club, gymnasiums, steam rooms, tennis, badminton, squash and handball courts, stables with forty head of fine riding stock, a championship AAU specification swimming pool, a trapshooting range, nine hole golf course, and nine different shops of national prominence."-Las Vegas Life
When Thomas Hull, a budding California-based motel magnate, first came to Las Vegas in 1940, it was reportedly to scout for location for a new hotel-only property. However, after experiencing the Fremont Street casino scene, he started to toy with the idea of building a "real resort" in Las Vegas. To Hull, this meant acquiring a large footprint to build the motel/auto court lodging he had such success with on the West Coast.
Dissatisfied with the lots available on Fremont Street, the story goes that he cast his eyes over to what was then undeveloped land along the two lane highway that led to Los Angeles and points west, and said that it had enough traffic to support the building he had in mind.
So land was broken on the corner of San Francisco and the Los Angeles Highway and the first Las Vegas Strip property was born. When completed and opened in 1941, the resort featured a small casino (70 slots, a handful of table games), a dining room and a lounge surrounded by more than 60 guest cottages.
But El Rancho was noteworthy for more than its location. It was the first area resort to emphasize the region's western surroundings, integrating wagon wheels and other cowboy paraphernalia into its interior and exterior design. The resort was also one of the first to actively court families, as evidenced by its crowd-friendly marketing motto: "Come As You Are."
It was also the first Las Vegas property to realize the value of water-its landscaping featured rock waterfalls and a large swimming pool was visible to the highway in hopes of attracting parched car travelers. Being a hotelier, Hull also packed his property with creature comfort services such as a full-service laundry that promised to pick up, wash, press and deliver a customer's shirt within six hours.
El Rancho's reign as the city's casino resort imperator was short-lived however, eclipsed by the opening of the Flamingo Hotel in December of 1946. That was no fault of the El Rancho, indeed-the property showed that the casino resort model could bring in customers from the western region of the United States. But it was the design and operation of the Flamingo the showed people from across the nation and the world would flock to Sin City if the right amenities were offered.
The Flamingo was originally conceived by Billy Wilkerson, an owner of nightclubs in California. However, the property soon became synonymous with gangster Benjamin (Bugsy) Siegel, who first became involved with the project from the financial end, securing development money from various New York-based crime bosses. Although Siegel's involvement with the casino was short lived (he was gunned-down six months after its opening), he did impact the resort and Las Vegas casino history in one very meaningful way-he was reportedly the person who insisted that amenities and services at Flamingo be on par with hotels found in Miami, New York and other posh vacation destinations.
The end result: a property with world-class rooms, air conditioning (a first for Las Vegas), lounges, pools, tennis courts, riding stables-a far cry from the simple Western motifs commonplace at other Las Vegas resorts. Supposedly Siegel also discussed developing a championship golf course on the site before his untimely demise.
At first, The Flamingo was considered something of a flop. But over time, the resort become one of the city's most successful casino properties, in part because it had so much more to offer than just gaming, and people proved willing to stay longer to experience it all. In the end it was the Flamingo, and not El Rancho, that became the primary prototype for casino construction throughout the next 20 years.
The El Rancho concept was not as long-lived. In the long run, Tom Hull was much more interested in building El Rancho than running it, and by 1945 the project was sold to Wilbur Clark, who would later go on to own the Desert Inn. Fire eventually destroyed El Rancho in 1960.
Other properties of note that debuted in the 1940s: The Last Frontier (1942) was the second casino resort to open on The Strip, and the first to pair a casino with theme park when it opened western-themed Frontier Village. The Thunderbird (1948) was another early Strip resort and the first to build a porte cochere to attract roadside traffic.
1950s
Desert Inn (1950)
Binion's Horseshoe (1951)
Sands (1952)
Moulin Rouge (1955)
"Wilbur Clark [of the Desert Inn] gave me my first job in Las Vegas. That was in 1951. For six bucks you got a filet mignon dinner and me."-Frank Sinatra
"The Moulin Rouge has been set up as Las Vegas' first interracial hotel and may set the stage for several other such places in the community."-Las Vegas Life
"Everybody was comping big players, but Benny [Binion] comped little players. He said, 'if you wanta get rich, make little people feel like big people."-Former Binion's Horseshoe employee
The Flamingo ushered in the first golden age of casino development in Las Vegas. Dozens of casinos were built in Las Vegas during the 1950s, each in their own way improving on the Flamingo prototype, all while adding operation and business elements that are echoed in today's megaresorts.
The Desert Inn, for example, was the first resort to have direct casino access from the hotel lobby when it opened in 1950. It also was the first property to build upwards-at three stories. Under Wilbur Clark's direction, the resort also pioneered other now commonplace casino resort business practices such as the lavish opening day celebration. The Desert Inn also enhanced the casino resort amenity package, adding services such as spas and beauty parlors and setting aside space for meeting and convention business.
The DI was also instrumental in yet another casino resort staple-the golf course. True, golf courses did exist at Las Vegas casino resorts developed prior to the DI. But it was the DI that created the city's first 18-hole championship-style golf course. The resort was also savvy enough to create a professional golf tournament to support the course, and generate much-needed positive nationwide publicity for the resort and Las Vegas.
Finally, the DI was also one of the first resorts to realize that entertainment could be used to differentiate from the competition. Clark made it clear he was willing to pay top dollar for name talent, and was the first to book Las Vegas legend Frank Sinatra in 1951.
The Sands took casino resort entertainment to the next level when it opened in 1952. General manager Jack Entratter made entertainment the lynchpin of his resort offerings, pioneering the exclusive celebrity-centric lounge act when he created a show for Tallulah Bankhead in 1953. Entratter's eye for entertainment also gave Las Vegas its first non-Western persona, when he worked out a deal with Frank Sinatra in 1953 and made the Sands ground zero for the Rat Pack. The sophisticated, cocktail-fueled lifestyle image created by the Rat Pack still holds sway in Sin City to this day.
Skin color also did not stand in the way of Entratter's quest for entertainment. Indeed, despite the fact Las Vegas was a segregated city at the time, he enticed Lena Horne to play at the Sands by offering the same hotel privileges as white entertainers.
Still, despite the good intentions of Entratter and others, Las Vegas remained a segregated community. It took the opening of the Moulin Rouge, the city's first interracial resort in 1955, to help start the process toward racial equality in Las Vegas. Located on the western side of Las Vegas, home to the city's African American community, Moulin Rouge immediately became a huge favorite of the Rat Pack, in part because it was one of the few places in town where Sammy Davis Jr. was allowed to stay. It didn't take long for fans to recognize this fact and flock to the facility, which in turn convinced casino owners that their patrons did not desire racial separation. Soon, all other Las Vegas resorts were desegregated.
Surprisingly, desegregation was actually bad for Moulin Rouge business, as the core of its patrons were now free to go to whichever resort they pleased. Still, the resort was recognized on the National Register of Historic Places, one of the few properties in Las Vegas to be given that honor.
Through all these developments, the casino remained a vital, if somewhat small, component of the total resort enterprise. Indeed, when the Desert Inn opened with 75 slot machines and 12 table games, it was easily the largest casino in Las Vegas. However, this support role of the casino in the resort formula changed with the 1951 opening of Binion's Horseshoe in downtown Las Vegas.
It wasn't so much that Binion's casino was larger than other properties at the time, but that he placed greater emphasis on its successful operation. For example, he set the bet limits on some table games at $500-10 times the limit at other properties at the time. This made the property an instant hit among customers who came to Las Vegas primarily to gamble.
Of course, once in his casino, customers were kept happy by such pioneering measures as offering free drinks at slot machines and limo service to and from airports and hotels. But Binion never lost sight of the fact that the casino was the engine that propelled resort success. Going forward, he would often accept bets in the $10,000 range and on a couple of occasions actually allowed a wager of $1 million on a toss of the dice at a craps table. By putting the needs of the gambler first, Binion established the locals-casino formula that thrives in Las Vegas today.
Helping create the locals marketplace was not the only contribution Binion and the Horseshoe had on Las Vegas history. He also was instrumental in the procurement of two of the city's premier special events: The National Rodeo Finals and The World Series of Poker.
Other properties of note that debuted in the 1950s: The Silver Slipper/Golden Slipper (1950) was the first casino to feature a convention hall. The Riviera (1955) was the first resort to feature a hotel tower on The Strip. It was nine-stories tall. The Dunes (1955) was one of the first resorts to use a design motif to tie the various facets of the property together. It was an Arabian theme. The Hacienda (1956) was one of the first resorts to actively pursue the family trade with amenities such as miniature golf and go-cart courses. It also had a fleet of 30 airplanes to bring gamblers to the property. The Tropicana (1957) emphasized landscaping as a differentiator, investing thousands of dollars to create a semi-tropical jungle in the desert. The Stardust (1958), with its Lido de Paris show imported from France, launched the modern Las Vegas stage show spectacular.
1960s
Caesars Palace (1966)
International Hotel (1969)
"Over the years that I have been creating hotels, I've discovered that the oval is a magic shape…this is conducive to relaxation. If you examine Caesars' casino, you will find that it is oval shaped. I even incorporated the oval design into the dice tables. Because the casino is shaped oval, people tend to relax and play longer."-Jay Sarno
To some degree, theming had been with Las Vegas casino resorts since the opening of the Western-style Last Frontier in the early 1940s. But it took a free thinker like Jay Sarno and the opening of Caesars Palace in 1966 to show the city and the world just how far escapist design elements could go.
Sarno spared no expense in creating his version of a Roman-era experience. He imported marble statues and cypress trees from Italy, crystal chandeliers from Germany and spread them liberally throughout the property. He made sure the Caesars theme permeated every aspect of the resort-from the design of dresses worn by cocktail waitresses to matchbook covers.
Sarno also used scale to create the illusion he sought. Caesars sat on 34 acres, featured a 14-story hotel tower, had an 800-seat theatre, and utilized 18 large fountains. No other casino resort in Las Vegas at that time could boast such magnitude. The special events he threw at Caesars reflected this epic style. While most properties settled for concerts and shows, Caesars Palace had Evel Knievel jumping his motorcycle over automobiles and busses.
But underneath the design and the chutzpah were some rather innovative operational concepts. Sarno was the first to view the casino space as a resort hub. He made sure the all ancillary elements, such as pools, shops, showrooms and restaurants, radiated from the casino floor. All roads led to the casino, and the business at the casino profited from the attention.
Whether it was the innovative layout or the over-the-top design elements, Caesars struck a chord with customers and the gaming industry that resonates to this day. People continue to patronize the resort, and every gaming property that has been built since borrows freely from Sarno's innovations.
Indeed, some Caesars Palace influences can be seen in the International Hotel, which opened on Paradise Road in 1969. Like Sarno, International developer Kirk Kerkorian believed in the attributes of quality and scale. However, he took the concepts to heights likely never imagined by Sarno.
The International Hotel cost a then-record $60 million, and featured a 30-story hotel tower, which easily overlooked most other buildings in Las Vegas. The resort was aimed at the high-end marketplace, and had the city's largest pool, largest convention center and a 2,000-seat showroom that opened with Barbra Streisand and Elvis.
Just on sheer size alone, many gaming industry observers consider the International Hotel to be the city's first megaresort. Kerkorian sold the property a year after it opened and it is now known to the world as the Las Vegas Hilton.
Other properties of note that debuted in the 1960s: The Landmark (1969) is best known for its Seattle Space Needle-inspired design and as the final refuge of recluse Howard Hughes.
1970s
Circus Circus Resort (1972)
"I think the guy who changed everything was Jay Sarno. He made the place a show. He made the place entertainment." -Steve Wynn
With Caesars Palace, Jay Sarno created a very popular, but somewhat hedonistically-themed casino resort. Plainly said, Caesars was not meant for the kiddies. Hence the development of Circus Circus, which in many ways was Sarno's attempt to take the lessons he learned at Caesars and apply them to a family-friendly resort.
When the casino portion of the property opened in 1968, it featured a circus inspired motif, right down to building properties and color schemes that emulated an old-fashioned canvas big-top. Inside, the casino comprised two floors, the lower being a 700-slot gaming area, the second a combination arcade/restaurant area with traditional carnival games and amusements. In addition, trapeze artists, jugglers, clowns and assorted acrobats preformed live above the gaming floor. To complete the picture, there was a ringmaster (sometimes Sarno himself) and a live elephant that was wired to "fly" around the casino.
This blend of public entertainment and gaming, so popular now in properties such as Treasure Island, was not immediately successful for Circus Circus. Indeed, the casino suffered until a resort hotel was opened on the property in 1972 and Bill Bennett and Bill Pennington were brought in to help operate the enterprise. By 1973, the resort had recovered, and over time reached and maintained an occupancy rate close to 100 percent, proving the family-style themed resort had legs in Las Vegas.
Other properties of note that debuted in the 1970s: Barbary Coast, Sam's Town and Palace Station (all mid- to late-1970s). These were a series of family-owned Las Vegas properties that helped refine the locals market and move it beyond its downtown base. Vegas World (1979) was not much to look at, but owner Bob Stupak pulled out all the stops when it came to contests, promotions, publicity and marketing and managed to bring in enough people to make the property lucrative.
1980s
The Mirage (1989)
"All those who've benefited from the concept of the modern themed megaresort can thank [Steve] Wynn for one of his most inspired brainchildren, The Mirage."-International Gaming & Wagering Business
By the late 1980s, there was a growing belief that the Las Vegas Strip may have seen its best days. There had been no new casino resorts opened on that famed stretch of land since 1973, and many business experts considered the area hopelessly saturated with gaming product.
This mindset changed dramatically with the opening of The Mirage in 1989. Like a fresh breeze, The Mirage blew out all talk of over-saturation, and replaced it with discussion about how to build bigger and better resorts.
With The Mirage, developer Steve Wynn merged the prevalent casino development trends of the previous 20 years-theming, entertainment and scale-under one roof to create the megaresort. At that time, the Mirage truly was "mega." It set Las Vegas records with over 3,000 guest rooms and a then astounding cost of $630 million to construct. The theming portion of the resort was an understated yet sophisticated South Seas style sprinkled with numerous exotic entertainment elements, such as a white tiger habitat, a dolphin pool and an errupting volcano. From day one these free attractions have enticed tourists to visit the Mirage, making it one of The Strip's most successful resorts. This success was not overlooked by fellow developers, and The Mirage became the prototype on which most new casino resort development is based.
Wynn even came up with a novel new way of funding his project-he used junk bonds to raise all but $80 million of the resort's original cost. Other developers, for better or worse, soon followed suit, and the 1990s casino boom begun.
If anything, the Mirage continued to prove that if you build a better gaming property in Las Vegas, the public will continue to beat a path to your casino floor.
Other properties of note that debuted in the 1980s: Well, none-this was simply not a good decade for casino development in Las Vegas.
1990s
MGM Grand (1993)
"The $1 billion MGM Grand hotel is a massive presence on Tropicana Avenue, now considered the powerhouse center of The Strip. The casino section of the resort is itself the biggest in Las Vegas at 171,500 square feet."-International Gaming & Wagering Business
Numerous megaresorts followed in the wake of the Mirage, each attempting to trump the others in terms of size and scope. It took a new project by megaresort pioneer Kirk Kerkorian to finally end all this one-upmanship.
If for no other reason, MGM Grand deserves mention here because it shows just how large a casino resort can be. When the $1 billion resort opened in 1993, it held a number of Las Vegas casino resort records-most expensive casino resort ever built, most hotel rooms under one roof (5,005), largest casino on The Strip (171,500 square feet), largest parcel of land (112 acres) and largest theme park (33-acres) just to name a few. The property also included 12 themed restaurants, a 1,700-seat showroom, a 630-seat theatre, three swimming pools, a 15,200-seat special events arena and much more.
Of course, there is such a thing as being too big. Subsequent Las Vegas resorts have surpassed MGM in terms of number of guest rooms (6,000 at the Venetian) and cost ($1.7 billion for the Bellagio, $2.7 billion for the new Wynn Las Vegas), but none have attempted to create a facility as all encompassing or big. Given the size of the remaining plots of resort-viable land in Las Vegas, it's doubtful anything ever will.
Other properties of note that debuted in the 1990s: The Excalibur (1990) combined family entertainment theme with megaresort size and economics. The simulated pirate battle at Treasure Island (1993) was the pinnacle for public spectacles on The Strip. The Hard Rock Hotel & Casino (1995) was the first Las Vegas resort to use a lifestyle image (rock & roll) as a theme and market differentiator. The Stratosphere (1996)-How can we possibly overlook the tallest building west of the Mississippi river? The Forum Shops at Caesars Palace (1997) showed that the combination of large-scale retail and casino resort could be very lucrative for both businesses. The $1.7 billion Bellagio (1998) was the most expensive casino resort ever built when it opened. It also redefined the benchmarks for an upper-class casino experience. The Venetian (1999) showed that a combination megaresort and mega-convention center is hard to beat, while Mandalay Bay (1999) upped the ante in catering to hip, upscale clientele.
2000 to present day
The Palms (2001)
While properties like the Hard Rock and Mandalay Bay placed more emphasis on the "hip and cool" crowds, helping reverse a somewhat stagnant perception of gaming as an activity for senior citizens, The Palms broke the "hip and cool" mold and built a new one.
When owner George Maloof began planning and building the resort in the late 1990s and early 2000s after having success with his Las Vegas locals casino brand, Fiesta, he expressed his desire to reinvigorate gaming and entertainment in Las Vegas. Not only was he able to accomplish that, he managed to keep a steady stream of local gamblers that he had built relationships with at his Fiesta properties. The Palms became a case study in the successful mixing of value-conscious gamblers and younger, hip patrons with a penchant for partying.
Small by current-day Las Vegas casino resort standards, The Palms presented itself as a hideaway for people who wanted to live it up without having to mix it up in gargantuan casino resorts. The Palms has become a popular and frequent hangout for A-list celebrities, with its night spots like the Rain nightclub, Skin Lounge and the Ghost Bar-atop the resort with breathtaking views of the city.
Meanwhile, the resort's style has made it an attraction for major media outlets to host events; MTV filmed a full season of its "Real World" series there, and both Playboy and Maxim magazines have adopted The Palms as a second home of sorts for events and parties.
Maloof's creation has also helped extend the casino-resort "off-Strip"-a concept that properties like Palace Station, Hard Rock and the Rio (which sits directly across Flamingo Rd. from The Palms) have taken the lead on-and risks associated with.
Other properties of note that debuted in the 2000s: After selling his Mirage Resorts to MGM Grand in 2000, Steve Wynn returned to the Las Vegas Strip this year with the opening of his Wynn Las Vegas. At, $2.7 billion, its his-and Las Vegas'-most expensive property to date.
Hundreds were built, but which casino resorts truly changed the landscape of gaming development in Las Vegas? Here's a decade by decade look at some of Sin City's most influential casino resorts.
By Paul Doocey
In its 100 year history, Las Vegas has seen the rise and decline of hundreds of casino resorts. Many have been mundane and utilitarian-built to take advantage of demographics and location, they were razed when the crowds moved on or the need to have a bigger and better facility took hold, and outside of the excitement of seeing them implode, their passing was little noted by either the local populace or the gaming industry. Such is the ephemeral nature of the casino business in Las Vegas-new and bold is almost always seen as advantageous to old and established.
Despite the transitory nature of casino development, it would be unfair to say there have been no landmark resort developments in Las Vegas since the re-legalization of casino wagering in the state in 1931. Indeed, each decade can boast a handful of properties and innovative developers/owners that dared to be different.
So what better way to celebrate Las Vegas' 100th anniversary then to give a nod to those projects that broke the mold. Below you will find a list of the Las Vegas properties the editors of Casino Journal and Ascend Media Gaming Group found to be truly evolutionary, organized by the decade in which they opened. The list was compiled using numerous materials and resources, some of which bear special note: the book The First 100: Portraits of the Men and Women Who Shaped Las Vegas, edited by A.D. Hopkins and K.J. Evans and published by Huntington Press; The Gaming Hall of Fame, which is maintained by the American Gaming Association; and the highly informative and entertaining Las Vegas Strip Historical Web site which can be found at www.lvstriphistory.com.
1930s
The Meadows (1931)
"Potent in its charm, mysterious in its fascination, the Meadows, America's most luxurious casino, will open its doors tonight and formally embark upon a career which all liberal-minded persons in the West will watch closely."-Las Vegas Age
In many ways, 1931 was a watershed year for Nevada and Las Vegas. The Divorce Bill was passed, reducing the state residency requirements for couples seeking separation to six weeks which, combined with laws that allowed same day marriages, made Reno and Las Vegas the ultimate destinations for those seeking either marital bliss or marital dissolution-suffusing the region with a risque aura it maintains to this day. That year also saw the finalization of plans to build Hoover Dam, which eventually led to thousands of people discovering and re-locating to Southern Nevada. And last but not least, 1931 saw casino gaming re-legalized after a 20 year hiatus.
On paper, the immediate benefactors of renewed casino gambling were the clubs and bars in downtown Las Vegas on or near Fremont Street, many of which applied for and eventually received gaming licenses. However, one new casino did open that year that many consider a forerunner to the modern gaming resort. That property was the Meadows.
Indeed, the Meadows did have a number of "firsts." It was arguably the first large-size gaming palace to operate outside of what was then the downtown Las Vegas area when it opened its doors on the corner of Fremont St. and Charleston Blvd. It was the first to incorporate the elements of a fully-functioning casino and resort hotel, which featured 30 rooms, all with electricity and baths. It was also one of the first properties to really market an entertainment element-going so far as to hire a Broadway producer to create a revue specifically for its showroom. Indeed, the Meadows was a far-cry from other Las Vegas casinos, most of which were little more than bars that catered to the local "jeans and boots" crowd.
The Meadows owed its unique style to Tony Cornero, a California-based rum runner and gambling ship owner who evidently wanted to transfer the style he developed on his casino ships to land-based properties. As such, he can be considered a harbinger of the criminally-tainted casino entrepreneurs that were soon to make Las Vegas their stomping grounds.
For better or worse, Cornero did not last long at the Meadows, selling the property in 1932. He did remain interested in Las Vegas however, and was one of the visionaries behind The Stardust, which opened shortly after his death in 1955.
As for the Meadows, it faded out of popularity as bigger and more lavish resorts opened in the 1940s and 1950s.
Other properties of note that debuted in the 1930s-The Northern Club, Las Vegas Club and Boulder Club all received gaming licenses in 1930s, making Fremont Street Las Vegas' first casino hub.
1940s
El Rancho (1941)
Flamingo Hotel (1946)
"A sprawling group of hacienda-like cottages built around a central café, night club and casino. Instead of hiding its glittering swimming pool in some patio, they stuck it in their show window, smack on Route 91…The Rancho somehow has managed to make the riveter, the carpenter and the truck driver at home in overalls in the same rooms with men and women in smart clothes, with an eloping Lana Turner posing for news photographs. No resort is likely to succeed in Vegas that doesn't accomplish this democracy."-Saturday Evening Post
"To capture its sweep and grandeur you have to be conditioned by a Goldwyn set that's been dolled up by Orson Wells. The Flamingo is indeed a most colorful and amazing bird. Part of the plumage: 105 beautifully appointed hotel rooms, health club, gymnasiums, steam rooms, tennis, badminton, squash and handball courts, stables with forty head of fine riding stock, a championship AAU specification swimming pool, a trapshooting range, nine hole golf course, and nine different shops of national prominence."-Las Vegas Life
When Thomas Hull, a budding California-based motel magnate, first came to Las Vegas in 1940, it was reportedly to scout for location for a new hotel-only property. However, after experiencing the Fremont Street casino scene, he started to toy with the idea of building a "real resort" in Las Vegas. To Hull, this meant acquiring a large footprint to build the motel/auto court lodging he had such success with on the West Coast.
Dissatisfied with the lots available on Fremont Street, the story goes that he cast his eyes over to what was then undeveloped land along the two lane highway that led to Los Angeles and points west, and said that it had enough traffic to support the building he had in mind.
So land was broken on the corner of San Francisco and the Los Angeles Highway and the first Las Vegas Strip property was born. When completed and opened in 1941, the resort featured a small casino (70 slots, a handful of table games), a dining room and a lounge surrounded by more than 60 guest cottages.
But El Rancho was noteworthy for more than its location. It was the first area resort to emphasize the region's western surroundings, integrating wagon wheels and other cowboy paraphernalia into its interior and exterior design. The resort was also one of the first to actively court families, as evidenced by its crowd-friendly marketing motto: "Come As You Are."
It was also the first Las Vegas property to realize the value of water-its landscaping featured rock waterfalls and a large swimming pool was visible to the highway in hopes of attracting parched car travelers. Being a hotelier, Hull also packed his property with creature comfort services such as a full-service laundry that promised to pick up, wash, press and deliver a customer's shirt within six hours.
El Rancho's reign as the city's casino resort imperator was short-lived however, eclipsed by the opening of the Flamingo Hotel in December of 1946. That was no fault of the El Rancho, indeed-the property showed that the casino resort model could bring in customers from the western region of the United States. But it was the design and operation of the Flamingo the showed people from across the nation and the world would flock to Sin City if the right amenities were offered.
The Flamingo was originally conceived by Billy Wilkerson, an owner of nightclubs in California. However, the property soon became synonymous with gangster Benjamin (Bugsy) Siegel, who first became involved with the project from the financial end, securing development money from various New York-based crime bosses. Although Siegel's involvement with the casino was short lived (he was gunned-down six months after its opening), he did impact the resort and Las Vegas casino history in one very meaningful way-he was reportedly the person who insisted that amenities and services at Flamingo be on par with hotels found in Miami, New York and other posh vacation destinations.
The end result: a property with world-class rooms, air conditioning (a first for Las Vegas), lounges, pools, tennis courts, riding stables-a far cry from the simple Western motifs commonplace at other Las Vegas resorts. Supposedly Siegel also discussed developing a championship golf course on the site before his untimely demise.
At first, The Flamingo was considered something of a flop. But over time, the resort become one of the city's most successful casino properties, in part because it had so much more to offer than just gaming, and people proved willing to stay longer to experience it all. In the end it was the Flamingo, and not El Rancho, that became the primary prototype for casino construction throughout the next 20 years.
The El Rancho concept was not as long-lived. In the long run, Tom Hull was much more interested in building El Rancho than running it, and by 1945 the project was sold to Wilbur Clark, who would later go on to own the Desert Inn. Fire eventually destroyed El Rancho in 1960.
Other properties of note that debuted in the 1940s: The Last Frontier (1942) was the second casino resort to open on The Strip, and the first to pair a casino with theme park when it opened western-themed Frontier Village. The Thunderbird (1948) was another early Strip resort and the first to build a porte cochere to attract roadside traffic.
1950s
Desert Inn (1950)
Binion's Horseshoe (1951)
Sands (1952)
Moulin Rouge (1955)
"Wilbur Clark [of the Desert Inn] gave me my first job in Las Vegas. That was in 1951. For six bucks you got a filet mignon dinner and me."-Frank Sinatra
"The Moulin Rouge has been set up as Las Vegas' first interracial hotel and may set the stage for several other such places in the community."-Las Vegas Life
"Everybody was comping big players, but Benny [Binion] comped little players. He said, 'if you wanta get rich, make little people feel like big people."-Former Binion's Horseshoe employee
The Flamingo ushered in the first golden age of casino development in Las Vegas. Dozens of casinos were built in Las Vegas during the 1950s, each in their own way improving on the Flamingo prototype, all while adding operation and business elements that are echoed in today's megaresorts.
The Desert Inn, for example, was the first resort to have direct casino access from the hotel lobby when it opened in 1950. It also was the first property to build upwards-at three stories. Under Wilbur Clark's direction, the resort also pioneered other now commonplace casino resort business practices such as the lavish opening day celebration. The Desert Inn also enhanced the casino resort amenity package, adding services such as spas and beauty parlors and setting aside space for meeting and convention business.
The DI was also instrumental in yet another casino resort staple-the golf course. True, golf courses did exist at Las Vegas casino resorts developed prior to the DI. But it was the DI that created the city's first 18-hole championship-style golf course. The resort was also savvy enough to create a professional golf tournament to support the course, and generate much-needed positive nationwide publicity for the resort and Las Vegas.
Finally, the DI was also one of the first resorts to realize that entertainment could be used to differentiate from the competition. Clark made it clear he was willing to pay top dollar for name talent, and was the first to book Las Vegas legend Frank Sinatra in 1951.
The Sands took casino resort entertainment to the next level when it opened in 1952. General manager Jack Entratter made entertainment the lynchpin of his resort offerings, pioneering the exclusive celebrity-centric lounge act when he created a show for Tallulah Bankhead in 1953. Entratter's eye for entertainment also gave Las Vegas its first non-Western persona, when he worked out a deal with Frank Sinatra in 1953 and made the Sands ground zero for the Rat Pack. The sophisticated, cocktail-fueled lifestyle image created by the Rat Pack still holds sway in Sin City to this day.
Skin color also did not stand in the way of Entratter's quest for entertainment. Indeed, despite the fact Las Vegas was a segregated city at the time, he enticed Lena Horne to play at the Sands by offering the same hotel privileges as white entertainers.
Still, despite the good intentions of Entratter and others, Las Vegas remained a segregated community. It took the opening of the Moulin Rouge, the city's first interracial resort in 1955, to help start the process toward racial equality in Las Vegas. Located on the western side of Las Vegas, home to the city's African American community, Moulin Rouge immediately became a huge favorite of the Rat Pack, in part because it was one of the few places in town where Sammy Davis Jr. was allowed to stay. It didn't take long for fans to recognize this fact and flock to the facility, which in turn convinced casino owners that their patrons did not desire racial separation. Soon, all other Las Vegas resorts were desegregated.
Surprisingly, desegregation was actually bad for Moulin Rouge business, as the core of its patrons were now free to go to whichever resort they pleased. Still, the resort was recognized on the National Register of Historic Places, one of the few properties in Las Vegas to be given that honor.
Through all these developments, the casino remained a vital, if somewhat small, component of the total resort enterprise. Indeed, when the Desert Inn opened with 75 slot machines and 12 table games, it was easily the largest casino in Las Vegas. However, this support role of the casino in the resort formula changed with the 1951 opening of Binion's Horseshoe in downtown Las Vegas.
It wasn't so much that Binion's casino was larger than other properties at the time, but that he placed greater emphasis on its successful operation. For example, he set the bet limits on some table games at $500-10 times the limit at other properties at the time. This made the property an instant hit among customers who came to Las Vegas primarily to gamble.
Of course, once in his casino, customers were kept happy by such pioneering measures as offering free drinks at slot machines and limo service to and from airports and hotels. But Binion never lost sight of the fact that the casino was the engine that propelled resort success. Going forward, he would often accept bets in the $10,000 range and on a couple of occasions actually allowed a wager of $1 million on a toss of the dice at a craps table. By putting the needs of the gambler first, Binion established the locals-casino formula that thrives in Las Vegas today.
Helping create the locals marketplace was not the only contribution Binion and the Horseshoe had on Las Vegas history. He also was instrumental in the procurement of two of the city's premier special events: The National Rodeo Finals and The World Series of Poker.
Other properties of note that debuted in the 1950s: The Silver Slipper/Golden Slipper (1950) was the first casino to feature a convention hall. The Riviera (1955) was the first resort to feature a hotel tower on The Strip. It was nine-stories tall. The Dunes (1955) was one of the first resorts to use a design motif to tie the various facets of the property together. It was an Arabian theme. The Hacienda (1956) was one of the first resorts to actively pursue the family trade with amenities such as miniature golf and go-cart courses. It also had a fleet of 30 airplanes to bring gamblers to the property. The Tropicana (1957) emphasized landscaping as a differentiator, investing thousands of dollars to create a semi-tropical jungle in the desert. The Stardust (1958), with its Lido de Paris show imported from France, launched the modern Las Vegas stage show spectacular.
1960s
Caesars Palace (1966)
International Hotel (1969)
"Over the years that I have been creating hotels, I've discovered that the oval is a magic shape…this is conducive to relaxation. If you examine Caesars' casino, you will find that it is oval shaped. I even incorporated the oval design into the dice tables. Because the casino is shaped oval, people tend to relax and play longer."-Jay Sarno
To some degree, theming had been with Las Vegas casino resorts since the opening of the Western-style Last Frontier in the early 1940s. But it took a free thinker like Jay Sarno and the opening of Caesars Palace in 1966 to show the city and the world just how far escapist design elements could go.
Sarno spared no expense in creating his version of a Roman-era experience. He imported marble statues and cypress trees from Italy, crystal chandeliers from Germany and spread them liberally throughout the property. He made sure the Caesars theme permeated every aspect of the resort-from the design of dresses worn by cocktail waitresses to matchbook covers.
Sarno also used scale to create the illusion he sought. Caesars sat on 34 acres, featured a 14-story hotel tower, had an 800-seat theatre, and utilized 18 large fountains. No other casino resort in Las Vegas at that time could boast such magnitude. The special events he threw at Caesars reflected this epic style. While most properties settled for concerts and shows, Caesars Palace had Evel Knievel jumping his motorcycle over automobiles and busses.
But underneath the design and the chutzpah were some rather innovative operational concepts. Sarno was the first to view the casino space as a resort hub. He made sure the all ancillary elements, such as pools, shops, showrooms and restaurants, radiated from the casino floor. All roads led to the casino, and the business at the casino profited from the attention.
Whether it was the innovative layout or the over-the-top design elements, Caesars struck a chord with customers and the gaming industry that resonates to this day. People continue to patronize the resort, and every gaming property that has been built since borrows freely from Sarno's innovations.
Indeed, some Caesars Palace influences can be seen in the International Hotel, which opened on Paradise Road in 1969. Like Sarno, International developer Kirk Kerkorian believed in the attributes of quality and scale. However, he took the concepts to heights likely never imagined by Sarno.
The International Hotel cost a then-record $60 million, and featured a 30-story hotel tower, which easily overlooked most other buildings in Las Vegas. The resort was aimed at the high-end marketplace, and had the city's largest pool, largest convention center and a 2,000-seat showroom that opened with Barbra Streisand and Elvis.
Just on sheer size alone, many gaming industry observers consider the International Hotel to be the city's first megaresort. Kerkorian sold the property a year after it opened and it is now known to the world as the Las Vegas Hilton.
Other properties of note that debuted in the 1960s: The Landmark (1969) is best known for its Seattle Space Needle-inspired design and as the final refuge of recluse Howard Hughes.
1970s
Circus Circus Resort (1972)
"I think the guy who changed everything was Jay Sarno. He made the place a show. He made the place entertainment." -Steve Wynn
With Caesars Palace, Jay Sarno created a very popular, but somewhat hedonistically-themed casino resort. Plainly said, Caesars was not meant for the kiddies. Hence the development of Circus Circus, which in many ways was Sarno's attempt to take the lessons he learned at Caesars and apply them to a family-friendly resort.
When the casino portion of the property opened in 1968, it featured a circus inspired motif, right down to building properties and color schemes that emulated an old-fashioned canvas big-top. Inside, the casino comprised two floors, the lower being a 700-slot gaming area, the second a combination arcade/restaurant area with traditional carnival games and amusements. In addition, trapeze artists, jugglers, clowns and assorted acrobats preformed live above the gaming floor. To complete the picture, there was a ringmaster (sometimes Sarno himself) and a live elephant that was wired to "fly" around the casino.
This blend of public entertainment and gaming, so popular now in properties such as Treasure Island, was not immediately successful for Circus Circus. Indeed, the casino suffered until a resort hotel was opened on the property in 1972 and Bill Bennett and Bill Pennington were brought in to help operate the enterprise. By 1973, the resort had recovered, and over time reached and maintained an occupancy rate close to 100 percent, proving the family-style themed resort had legs in Las Vegas.
Other properties of note that debuted in the 1970s: Barbary Coast, Sam's Town and Palace Station (all mid- to late-1970s). These were a series of family-owned Las Vegas properties that helped refine the locals market and move it beyond its downtown base. Vegas World (1979) was not much to look at, but owner Bob Stupak pulled out all the stops when it came to contests, promotions, publicity and marketing and managed to bring in enough people to make the property lucrative.
1980s
The Mirage (1989)
"All those who've benefited from the concept of the modern themed megaresort can thank [Steve] Wynn for one of his most inspired brainchildren, The Mirage."-International Gaming & Wagering Business
By the late 1980s, there was a growing belief that the Las Vegas Strip may have seen its best days. There had been no new casino resorts opened on that famed stretch of land since 1973, and many business experts considered the area hopelessly saturated with gaming product.
This mindset changed dramatically with the opening of The Mirage in 1989. Like a fresh breeze, The Mirage blew out all talk of over-saturation, and replaced it with discussion about how to build bigger and better resorts.
With The Mirage, developer Steve Wynn merged the prevalent casino development trends of the previous 20 years-theming, entertainment and scale-under one roof to create the megaresort. At that time, the Mirage truly was "mega." It set Las Vegas records with over 3,000 guest rooms and a then astounding cost of $630 million to construct. The theming portion of the resort was an understated yet sophisticated South Seas style sprinkled with numerous exotic entertainment elements, such as a white tiger habitat, a dolphin pool and an errupting volcano. From day one these free attractions have enticed tourists to visit the Mirage, making it one of The Strip's most successful resorts. This success was not overlooked by fellow developers, and The Mirage became the prototype on which most new casino resort development is based.
Wynn even came up with a novel new way of funding his project-he used junk bonds to raise all but $80 million of the resort's original cost. Other developers, for better or worse, soon followed suit, and the 1990s casino boom begun.
If anything, the Mirage continued to prove that if you build a better gaming property in Las Vegas, the public will continue to beat a path to your casino floor.
Other properties of note that debuted in the 1980s: Well, none-this was simply not a good decade for casino development in Las Vegas.
1990s
MGM Grand (1993)
"The $1 billion MGM Grand hotel is a massive presence on Tropicana Avenue, now considered the powerhouse center of The Strip. The casino section of the resort is itself the biggest in Las Vegas at 171,500 square feet."-International Gaming & Wagering Business
Numerous megaresorts followed in the wake of the Mirage, each attempting to trump the others in terms of size and scope. It took a new project by megaresort pioneer Kirk Kerkorian to finally end all this one-upmanship.
If for no other reason, MGM Grand deserves mention here because it shows just how large a casino resort can be. When the $1 billion resort opened in 1993, it held a number of Las Vegas casino resort records-most expensive casino resort ever built, most hotel rooms under one roof (5,005), largest casino on The Strip (171,500 square feet), largest parcel of land (112 acres) and largest theme park (33-acres) just to name a few. The property also included 12 themed restaurants, a 1,700-seat showroom, a 630-seat theatre, three swimming pools, a 15,200-seat special events arena and much more.
Of course, there is such a thing as being too big. Subsequent Las Vegas resorts have surpassed MGM in terms of number of guest rooms (6,000 at the Venetian) and cost ($1.7 billion for the Bellagio, $2.7 billion for the new Wynn Las Vegas), but none have attempted to create a facility as all encompassing or big. Given the size of the remaining plots of resort-viable land in Las Vegas, it's doubtful anything ever will.
Other properties of note that debuted in the 1990s: The Excalibur (1990) combined family entertainment theme with megaresort size and economics. The simulated pirate battle at Treasure Island (1993) was the pinnacle for public spectacles on The Strip. The Hard Rock Hotel & Casino (1995) was the first Las Vegas resort to use a lifestyle image (rock & roll) as a theme and market differentiator. The Stratosphere (1996)-How can we possibly overlook the tallest building west of the Mississippi river? The Forum Shops at Caesars Palace (1997) showed that the combination of large-scale retail and casino resort could be very lucrative for both businesses. The $1.7 billion Bellagio (1998) was the most expensive casino resort ever built when it opened. It also redefined the benchmarks for an upper-class casino experience. The Venetian (1999) showed that a combination megaresort and mega-convention center is hard to beat, while Mandalay Bay (1999) upped the ante in catering to hip, upscale clientele.
2000 to present day
The Palms (2001)
While properties like the Hard Rock and Mandalay Bay placed more emphasis on the "hip and cool" crowds, helping reverse a somewhat stagnant perception of gaming as an activity for senior citizens, The Palms broke the "hip and cool" mold and built a new one.
When owner George Maloof began planning and building the resort in the late 1990s and early 2000s after having success with his Las Vegas locals casino brand, Fiesta, he expressed his desire to reinvigorate gaming and entertainment in Las Vegas. Not only was he able to accomplish that, he managed to keep a steady stream of local gamblers that he had built relationships with at his Fiesta properties. The Palms became a case study in the successful mixing of value-conscious gamblers and younger, hip patrons with a penchant for partying.
Small by current-day Las Vegas casino resort standards, The Palms presented itself as a hideaway for people who wanted to live it up without having to mix it up in gargantuan casino resorts. The Palms has become a popular and frequent hangout for A-list celebrities, with its night spots like the Rain nightclub, Skin Lounge and the Ghost Bar-atop the resort with breathtaking views of the city.
Meanwhile, the resort's style has made it an attraction for major media outlets to host events; MTV filmed a full season of its "Real World" series there, and both Playboy and Maxim magazines have adopted The Palms as a second home of sorts for events and parties.
Maloof's creation has also helped extend the casino-resort "off-Strip"-a concept that properties like Palace Station, Hard Rock and the Rio (which sits directly across Flamingo Rd. from The Palms) have taken the lead on-and risks associated with.
Other properties of note that debuted in the 2000s: After selling his Mirage Resorts to MGM Grand in 2000, Steve Wynn returned to the Las Vegas Strip this year with the opening of his Wynn Las Vegas. At, $2.7 billion, its his-and Las Vegas'-most expensive property to date.
