What are the oldest casinos on the Las Vegas Strip?

By McKenna Ross Las Vegas Review-Journal

8 months ago

An exterior view of the Flamingo in Las Vegas, where sources say reality star Lisa Vanderpump i ... — An exterior view of the Flamingo in Las Vegas, where sources say reality star Lisa Vanderpump is expected to open her third restaurant in the city. (Chase Stevens/Las Vegas Review-Journal) @csstevensphoto

The Golden Gate hotel-casino in Las Vegas, on Tuesday, March 16, 2021. (Erik Verduzco / Las Vegas Review-Journal) @Erik_Verduzco

FILE – People are shown at one of the gaming tables at the Flamingo Casino in Las Vegas, Nev., on May 24, 1955. The Flamingo Las Vegas has begun celebrating its 75th birthday ahead of the Dec. 26, 1946, anniversary of Benjamin "Bugsy" Siegel and Meyer Lansky opening a 105-room property on what is now Las Vegas Boulevard. Downtown, the El Cortez Hotel & Casino has commemorated 80 years since opening in November 1941 with 59 rooms. (AP Photo/File)

Hotel (then, Hotel Nevada) in 1906. The original Golden Gate Hotel & Caino, with owner, John F. Miller seated in buggy and his future wife, Rosa, shown in the second story opening. Goldern Gate Hotel and Casino, established in 1906, One Fremont Street, Las Vegas, Nevada. Photo by Mike Stotts. Mike Stotts Hotel (then, Hotel Nevada) in 1906. The original Golden Gate Hotel & Caino, with owner, John F. Miller seated in buggy and his future wife, Rosa, shown in the second story opening. Goldern Gate Hotel and Casino, established in 1906, One Fremont Street, Las Vegas, Nevada. Photo by Mike Stotts.

The pending Tropicana closure will take out the third-oldest casino on the Strip – a place with a historic skyline that has a tendency to look different every few decades.

Still, there are a handful of hotel-casinos that have stood the test of time in the city’s short history. Here are the five oldest casinos still operating on the Strip as of March 2024:

Flamingo: opened in December 1946

Sahara: opened in October 1952

Tropicana: opened in April 1957* (closing April 2)

The Linq: opened in 1959 as the Flamingo Capri.

Caesars Palace: opened in April 1966

Circus Circus: opened in October 1968

But Las Vegas’ origins as a gambling mecca began much earlier, a few miles north in downtown Las Vegas in the “Glitter Gulch.” Several notable names began as hotels or hotel-casinos and still operate today. Here they are as of March 2024:

Golden Gate hotel-casino: January 1906

Hotel Apache (now attached to Binion’s): March 1932

El Cortez: November 1941

Golden Nugget: August 1946

Four Queens: June 1966

McKenna Ross is a corps member with Report for America, a national service program that places journalists into local newsrooms. Contact her at mross@reviewjournal.com. Follow @mckenna_ross_ on X.