Ahead of an impending demolition, Las Vegas’s famed Tropicana casino resort was set to close at noon on Tuesday to make way for a new baseball stadium for the Oakland Athletics as the franchise moves to Sin City.
The move brings a close to a major piece of Las Vegas history as the third-oldest casino in the city closes its doors. The Tropicana opened 67 years ago and has been a mainstay on the Vegas Strip. Antioco Carrillo, 56, was one of those checking out the casino one last time over the weekend. The property offered his first job in the U.S. when he immigrated from Mexico in 1987.
“It’s the property that gave me the opportunity to live here,” he told USA Today. “But I think it is a positive move, at the end of the day, because the city is transforming.”
The Trop: Piece of Vegas History
Built in 1957 for $15 million, “The Trop” became one of the best-known casino resorts in Las Vegas. Founded by Fontainebleau Miami hotel owner Ben Jaffe, historians also believe the casino had connections to organized crime. The property quickly became a major name in entertainment, a sign of where many casinos in the city would be moving in the coming decades.
The property was the first to feature magicians Siegfried & Roy in 1967, and also hosted performances by Louis Armstrong, Jayne Mansfield, Gladys Knight, Wayne Newton, and others. Members of the “Rat Pack,” including Frank Sinatra and Sammie Davis Jr., could regularly be found at the casino as well. Other regular guests included Elizabeth Taylor and Debbie Reynolds.
The Trop also became well-known for hosting the “Folies Bergere” showgirl show. The 1971 James Bond film “Diamonds are Forever” even saw the famed secret agent stopping in for a visit.
“I hear that the Hotel Tropicana is quite comfortable,” Bond says.
The property underwent several expansion efforts through the years including the addition of two hotel towers in 1979 and 1986. The casino was purchased by Bally’s in 2022 and the company plans on building another casino on site after the baseball stadium is built. Changes in ownership several times and the construction of even bigger resorts along the Strip left the Tropicana a little out of place, some argue. Similar evolution of casinos is already seen among online casinos where new players enter the market and few old ones exit the gambling market.
“I think part of (the property’s decline) is that it went through several ownership changes when the other hotels were not – which meant different approaches, different plans,” University of Nevada, Las Vegas (UNLV) history professor Michael Green told USA Today. “Then it was surrounded by these megaresorts. And in a sense, it tried to have its own niche by not being one of them and having amenities – but not the amenities to the degree the others did.”
As the closing date became closer and the demolition planned for October, chip collectors began visiting the property to take home a small piece of Las Vegas history. All previously issued Tropicana Las Vegas chips can be redeemed at OYO Las Vegas main cage from April 2, 2024, through July 31, 2024.
Tropicana Las Vegas closed on April 2, 2024. The upcoming MLB stadium winds up 67 years of memories. On a related note, Tropicana casino PA is owned by the William Hill. The PA online casino is licensed by the PGCB.
