Former Vegas Casinos Remembered
From what was once an oasis in the middle of a barren piece of the Mojave Desert, the origins of the city of Las Vegas traces its heritage back to being a town built around a railroad service centre for desert bound railway traffic. Since then it has undergone a remarkable transformation to become the capital of Nevada and the heaviest populated area in the State.
Although not on our list of former Vegas casinos, the Golden Gate Hotel and Casino is still worth of mention as this is where Vegas’s gambling reputation began. On its launch in 1906, it was known as the Hotel Nevada and didn’t change its name to the Golden Gate until 1955. It’s a real slice of Las Vega history, and amazingly it’s still operational today.
But in this blog the team here at GamBonus.com are focusing on some of the great former Vegas casinos that are no more. The casinos that helped Las Vegas to achieve it position in global gambling history – the most famous closed Vega casinos of yesteryear.
1 of 6 Former Vegas Casinos Remembered – Frontier Hotel and Casino
CC image of Frontier Hotel & Casino Sign courtesy of Flickr
Regarded as the second casino to open in Vegas, the Last Frontier Casino’s gambling operations began in October 1942. It originally started out in life in the 1930s as a night club called the Pair-O-Dice. On pts transition to casino status it also traded under the names of the Ambassador and the 91 club.
Having been renamed the Frontier Casino, the original building was demolished, and in 1955, 52 years before it was to become one of the former Vegas casinos, it reopened as the New Frontier Hotel and Casino. One year later, in 1956, the new resort casino as the platform for Elvis Presley’s first Vegas appearance. Iin 1970, it also staged the final appearance of Diana Ross and the Supremes.
Infamously, in 1971, a federal trial took place in Los Angeles whereby Anthony Joseph Zerilli and Michael Polizzi, two members of the notorious Detroit Mafia Family, were accused with concealing their ownership stake in The Frontier. Subsequently, the establishment was purchased by a certain Mr Howard Hughes.
Frontier Casino sadly became one of the many abandoned Vegas casinos in 2007 and stayed that way for six months before it was demolished.
2 of 6 Former Vegas Casinos Remembered – Desert Inn Casino
CC image of Desert Inn Casi no courtesy of Flickr
The Desert Inn casino opened to welcome its first visitors to The Strip in 1950. Stylised in Miami pinks and greens it was the first casino to have a coloured fountain like the one pictured above at Kuala Lumpa. The ‘dancing waters’ fountain at the Desert Inn, however, rose and fell in time to recorded music.
The Desert Inn, now sadly one of the demolished Las Vegas casinos was where Frank Sinatra made is first appearance in Vegas. In its day the casino comprised the Skyroom, and the Painted Desert Showroom. It also had a 90ft long bar called Lady Luck that had glass windows that allowed you to look into the casino. Its Cactus room sat 100 seat for breakfast, and it also boasted a luxurious powder room containing nine private ‘boudoir’ tables plus a nursery created in the image of an oversized dolls house where parents could drop off their kids.
It closed in August 2000, and in its place now stands the Wynn and Encore.
3 of 6 Former Vegas Casinos Remembered – Dunes Casino
Figure 1 CC Image of Dunes Casini courtesy of Flickr
When it opened in May 1955, Dunes Casino was modelled around an Arabian Nights theme. Even the architectural features of the building were in harmony. The casino’s claim to fame includes the fact that in 1957, it was the first casino on the strip to present the first topless show – Minsky Goes to Paris.
The tenth of our former Vegas casinos to open its doors, Dunes was one of four to open within a six week period, signalling the start Nevada State’s gambling explosion. Like several former Vegas casino of the era, Dunes has connections with the Mafia. Links with the ‘mob’ were established again in 1975 when mob enforcer, Tony ‘The Ant’ Spilotro was accused by the Gaming Control Board of using the Dunes as his personal office.
The recession of the 1990s saw the casino lay off hundreds of worker, and following a $200 renovation plan against which only $12 million was invested, the Dunes reportedly ‘lost its magic’ and floundered amid competition from new megaresorts the likes of The Mirage and the Excalibur.
The Dunes joined the rank of the demolished Las Vegas casinos in September 1993.
4 of 6 Former Vegas Casinos Remembered – Sands Casino
CC image of Sands Hotel & Casino courtesy of Flickr
Sands Hotel and Casino was launched in December 1952 and was the seventh to appear on the famous Strip. At that time, with its famous 14 story tower, it was the tallest building in the State of Nevada. Sands was also where Sinatra, Sammy Davis Jnr and Dean Martin, the notorious Rat Pack spent much of their leisure time. Sinatra actually made his debut performance at Sands in October 1953, and shortly after, he bought himself a share of what is now one of the most famous closed Vegas casinos.
Comedian Red Skelton the comedian (one of the names on the billboard in the photo above) was another famous performer to grace the stage at Sands. He even used the Casino to stage an exhibition of his art. Another famous comedian, Jerry Lewis, sometime movie partner with Dean Martin, was a Sands’ regular.
Although it’s now one of the old casinos no longer in Vegas, when it was up and running Sinatra was a regular gambler there. On average he would visit three time per year, often staying and gambling for two weeks at a time. He has a bit of a reputation for ignoring his not covering his losses but keeping his winnings, but the mafia element of the casino’s ownership team, with which Sinatra has connections, turned a blind eye because he was good for business and attracted many other high rollers.
Many former Vegas casinos have claims to fame and Sands has plenty, what with its list of celebrities who performed and gambled there, but one of its biggest was that in 1960, over a three period, scenes from the movie ‘Oceans’ Eleven’ were filmed there.
All good things must come to an end, and on the 26th of November 1996, Sands Casino, after a steady decline and slowly becoming best known for its past glories, was demolished. On the site where it once stood, you’ll find the 35 storey, 3,036 room Venetian Hotel.
5 of 6 Former Vegas Casinos Remembered – The Riviera Hotel and Casino
CC image of the Lobby of the Riveria Hotel & Casino courtesy of Flickr
When it first opened in 1955, the Riviera was the first high-rise resort in Vegas. It opened at the same time as two other hotel casinos, namely The Dunes, and The Royal Nevada. All three can now be considered former Vegas casinos, and each has its place in this, our closed Las Vegas casinos obituary.
In its early days, Sidney Korshak, fixer for the mob, played a leading part in the Riviera’s management. He was also responsible for skimming the profits and passing them back to the organised crime syndicate in Chicago.
The Riviera had a checkered financial history with many owners, and it filed for bankrupt on several occasions but always managed to recover. In 2005 the Riviera celebrated its 50th anniversary, a record that was somewhat amazing, especially as according to Hal Rothman, a gambling world specialist and history professor at the University of Nevada, given that is was located on the North part of the Strip, an area that didn’t fare as well as the South part.
But with closure of other casinos around it from the old Vegas casinos list, the Westward Ho in 2005, the Stardust in 2006, and the New Frontier in 2007, fewer and fewer gamblers were attracted to the North side of the Strip, and eventually, shortly after the Riviera’s 60th anniversary, it span its roulette wheels for the last time on the 4th of May 2015 and joined the ever growing list of former Vegas casinos.
6 of 6 Former Vegas Casinos Remembered – The Stardust Casino Resort
Image of Stardust Casino Sign courtesy of Henning Schlottmann – Wikimedia
The Stardust Hotel and casino opened in July 1958. At that time, with 1,065 rooms, situated in 6 motel complexes, it was the largest hotel in the world. It also boasted a 16,500 square foot casino. In 1959, the Royal Nevada Casino was absorbed by the Stardust with RN’s casino space being turned into the Stardust’s new convention area.
In the 60s, the resort began two new ventures; an off-site country club called the Stardust Country Club and the Stardust International Raceway.
Like so many of the former Vegas casinos, The Stardust had its ties with crime. While they were under the control of the Chicago mob, Frank Lawrence “Lefty” Rosenthal ran not only the Stardust, but the Fremont, Marina, and Hacienda casinos, all without gambling licenses. He was quite a character. A known crime associate and an FBI informant, he was an acknowledged expert sports gambler, in fact Sports Illustrated named him the greatest living expert on sports gambling.
He used his knowledge and expertise to open the world’s first sportsbook and the Stardust and was credited for creating increased global exposure to Vegas’s sports betting scene.
The 1995 Scorsese movie ‘Casino’ portrayed Lefty Rosenthal (played by Robert de Niro) under the pseudonym Sam “Ace” Rothstein.
The Stardust presented numerous stars and shows in its lifetime, the most popular one of which was the Lido de Paris (as depicted in the photograph above), a show featuring topless dancers. It ran for 32 years until 1991.
The resort joined the rank of great closed Las Vegas casinos in November 2006. The Genting Group acquired ownership of the site in 2013 and eventually replaced it with Resorts World Las Vegas in 2021. The new resort has an indoor sculpture of the Stardust’s road sign on display as a poignant memory of its roots.
Concluding Thoughts on Famous Closed Vegas Casinos
The team here at GamBonus.com hope you’ve enjoyed reading about all of these old casino no longer in Vegas. It’s always sad to see historic icons come to an end, but times change, and life moves on. Gambling laws have been revolutionized over the years, including those relating to online casinos.
It’s amazing when you look in time and realise how so many of the famous closed Vegas casinos owed their formation to the mob and the Mafia. It probably one of the main drivers that has led to today’s online casino KYC policy which has been put into place not only to deter underage gambling, but to help prevent money laundering
With online casino gambling booming right now across the world, it puts enormous pressure on the bricks and mortar establishments. The UK for example has witnessed at 17.8% drop in the number of land-based casinos in operation since the CO VID lockdown.
We know online gambling is booming in 2025, and land-based casinos are starting to feel the effects of this. Many traditional casinos have been forced to shut down, with the United Kingdom reporting a 17.8% decrease in the number of non-remote gambling locations since the COVID-19 lockdown. But in Sin City, it’s business as usual, with in-person gambling projected to rise in popularity.
In Nevada USA, existing sites hoping to avoid one day being branded former Vegas casinos will have to work hard and many are doing so through the hosting of regular major sporting events such as Boxing, Darts, NBA and NFL matches, as well as getting involved in Formula 1.
So far, the success speaks for itself. In 2025, Clark County is forecasting around 33.7million gamblers visiting the Strip and spending $27,420.99 every minute playing their favourite games.
