History of casinos in Las Vegas

Updated on July 14, 2020

The great motto that surrounds the city of Las Vegas is: “What happens here, stays here”. At the moment, it is presented as the epicenter of greatest activity of gambling, to which millions of tourists travel annually to prove their luck: both the most professional and amateurs who hope to find their lucky break there. And in case those tourist couldn’t travel, there is always good alternatives such as Grande Vegas online casino

The design of the buildings and casinos has given to the city a truly exotic beauty, where you can find monumental water sources such as the Bellagio, the huge pyramid of the Hotel Luxor and even a smaller replica of the Eiffel tower from Paris. 

How was discovered the region where the City is located?

Behind all that world of betting, hotels and cocktails, Las Vegas has a history that dates back to 1829, when Antonio Armijo deviated from a Spanish route, thus discovering the valley where this city resides today.

Years later, Mormons decided to create a fort to protect the mail route located between Salt Lake City and Los Angeles. Thanks to this route, the city began to take shape, as well as the installation of the railway tracks that gave place to the railroad.

Precisely, the Union Pacific railway company started working in this area, giving it infrastructure and also connecting the city with the rest of the country. And it didn’t require much time until the emergence of betting rooms, bars to play cards, brothels and other establishments where the company workers could spend their hard-earned wages.

The first casino in Las Vegas 

It was only until the year 1941 that Tommy Hull decided to shape this lifestyle that dominated Las Vegas. For this reason, he ordered the construction of El Rancho Vegas Hotel-Casino, placing it precisely in the center of the city, on the same two-lane highway that goes to Los Angeles. This place is more recognized with the name of the “Strip”

His idea was a complete success, which motivated the emergence of new casinos. The most famous, at the time, was El Flamingo, whose founder was none other than Benjamin “Bugsy” Siegel, a gangster who was a member of the Meyer Lansky criminal gang.

The new wave of casinos in Las Vegas

Desert Inn appeared in 1950 and the Sahara in 1952. For the year 1955 the doors of the Riviera (also known as “The Riv”) hotel and casino were opened, considered at the time as a skyscraper, despite the fact that it only had nine floors.

The “Strip” began to fill with new casinos, such as the Tropicana, Stardust or Dunes. Other casinos had gained strength to become Las Vegas benchmarks were the Golden Nugget and the Pioneer Club.

The Stardust casino played an important role in the concept that Las Vegas has nowadays, because, although El Rancho as the first casino in the city had already linked the bets with the presentation of musical artists, later this casino was the one that brought from abroad the Lido show, a really important cabaret founded on Paris.

Well, as you can see Las Vegas has passed for a long road to be as we know today, as the famous Sin City, full of exotic beauties and places to throw away money (or to win insane amounts, depending on your luck)

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