What is the oldest casino on the Strip?

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.