Congratulations to everyone at Players Publishing. Being a regular contributor to the various magazines has been one of my great pleasures over the past 15 years – I have enjoyed both reading others’ views and relished the forum to research and opine on topics of personal interest, finding a community of like-minded professionals.As we are celebrating landmarks this summer (and a notable birthday for me), I was asked to highlight the 10 key events in the Las Vegas journey. I settled, appropriately, on 21!

A lecture I often deliver to various groups is titled, “How We Got Here” – it’s a punchy and sometimes colorful exposition on how Las Vegas evolved from a minor settlement to a major global destination. In past columns, I have explored some of these in detail, so here I have just skipped to the fundamental points in certain cases. However, as the narrative builds in layers, it must be observed that few events exist in isolation without reference to the environment in which they occurred. 

The Las Vegas story 

May 15, 1905 

Although there was settlement in the area prior to William Clark’s 1905 land auction, much of it was literally “on the wrong side of the tracks.”The plots that were sold over two scorching May days form much of what we now know as Downtown Las Vegas, centered around Fremont Street. The Hotel Nevada, now The Golden Gate, opened in 1906. Las Vegas was born.

March 19, 1931

After a decade of prohibition across America, the Great Depression that had caused hardship, particularly in Nevada’s mining sector, created widespread economic malaise across the State. In a move that would secure his place in history. Republican Governor Fred Balazar signed Assembly Bill 98 into law, allowing licensed gaming in the State. Although localized gaming permits were commonplace, in hindsight, the southern outpost of Las Vegas was to be the primary beneficiary. Local saloon owner Mayme Stocker, who moved to Las Vegas in 1911, was the first legal gaming operator at her Northern Club and Hotel found at 15 Fremont Street. Remarkably, Stocker lived until 1972, witnessing remarkable change in the city.

March 1, 1936

The Hoover Dam brought thousands of (male) construction workers to Southern Nevada for the largest construction project in the country from the late 1920s onwards. The transient population of Las Vegas was significant compared to the resident population, allowing the town to develop an early proficiency in gaming and hotel operations.

With Las Vegas’ railroad and the Dam site spur opening in 1931, the city’s drinking, gaming and “other” leisure amenities found an eager audience from the “dry” Boulder City.

After official completion in March 1936, at a cost of $49m, the Dam became an immediate attraction, leading tourists to travel across the nation to see this engineering marvel.

April 3, 1941

By 1941, 88% of US households were car owners, up from 60% a decade earlier. With a population of 1.5 million, Los Angeles had grown to be the fifth-largest city in the nation. 

There is an apocryphal story that hotel developer Thomas Hull was driving to Las Vegas when his car broke down on Highway 91. Seeing the stream of automobiles passing towards the casinos, he should build a hotel on the southern outskirts, rather than in the center of town. Like many Las Vegas myths, this is likely to be false, as not only had Hull built many of his properties on major US highways, along with architect Wayne McAllister, he had scouted the town for potential development sites some years before.

Adopting a “Western Frontier” theme for the desert hotel, The El Rancho opened as the first resort on what we now know as The Strip on April 3 1941, featuring many aspects that would become common in future decades. The property was to feature 65 rooms and a swimming pool, latterly adding novelties, including cabaret entertainment and the first all-you-can-eat buffet.

December 26, 1946

When The Flamingo opened in 1946, Benjamin Siegel had assumed control of Billy Wilkerson’s development on Highway 91. Although Hull’s El Rancho was only 3.1 miles away, the two properties were worlds apart.

Unlike anything else in the desert, Siegel demanded the luxury, elegance and sophistication that could be found in Los Angeles.

He also wanted LA’s celebrity, glamour and excitement. Like many resorts over subsequent decades, the opening was challenging; the 105 rooms were still under construction when the first guests arrived, and the property was to close in February 1947, before finally reopening the following month. The Flamingo brought glamour to the desert, brought mob money and management to The Strip, and with the very public demise of Bugsy, brought mobster mythology to early Las Vegas.

July 2, 1958

After the success of The Flamingo – and more importantly the Cuban Revolution that curtailed the casino business on that island – Las Vegas became the primary market for investment by mob interests in legal gaming.

Resort-style properties for American gamblers had appeared on The Strip throughout the 1950s, with The Sands, Dunes, Desert Inn, Sahara, Riviera and New Frontier operating as islands on the very-much-unwalkable Highway 91, but The Stardust was different.

Opening on July 2, The Stardust was built for the middle-class tourist, with a Greyhound bus terminal, drive-in movie theatre, production show as entertainment and 1,065 motel-style rooms, making it the largest hotel in the market. The ornate sign and stylized lettering set the template for branding and message within the competitive set.

The Stardust was by no means a luxury property, built with scale and priced below the major properties in market, it successfully encouraged broader customer appeal. The business model was clearly the template for some of the 1980s and 1990s programming in attracting broader tourist participation.

Part of the resort’s 1960s and 1970s history has entered notoriety, thanks to the movie Casino, but despite the criminality at the resort, it proved a fertile testing ground for new ideas and concepts, notably the first “Sportsbook” on the Strip and the introduction of a German duo of illusionists and their menagerie.

January 1, 1960

When the cast turned up to film the heist caper, Ocean’s 11, their legacy was to prove more enduring than the movie; the actors by day became performers by night. Led by Frank Sinatra, Sammy Davis Jr and Dean Martin, all of whom had established reputations as individual performers, were joined on the Copa Room stage by associated “Rat Packers,” including Joey Bishop and Peter Lawford, as celebrities, politicians and industrialists came to Las Vegas to witness the five-week series of shows held during filming.

Not only did the shows capture headlines, associate the Rat Pack sound and style with Las Vegas, but associated the “headline residency’ model with Las Vegas.

August 5, 1966

When Jay Sarno and Stan Mallin begged and borrowed to secure land, money and expertise to open Sarno’s ambitious hotel casino project, it waS probably Las Vegas’ biggest bet.

In hock to Kirk Kerkorian, The Teamsters Union, and other less reputable financiers, Caesars Palace opened on August 5 1966 with a huge party and television exposure. Andy Williams played the Circus Maximus showroom in the Greco-Roman themed hotel, as guests experienced an entertainment escape of fantasy and delight. It changed Las Vegas, not just in casino design, but with a unique brand and as an “immersive experience” like no other, it became a must-see palace of fun and spectacle, attracting customers well outside the established gaming audience. Moreover, with Evel Kneviel’s 1967 failed fountain jump, Caesars Palace entered Americana, and to this day remains the most recognized original brand Las Vegas has produced.

November 24, 1966

Howard Hughes was a regular visitor to Vegas in the 1940s and 50s, producing the RKO movie, The Las Vegas Story in 1952. On Thanksgiving eve 1966, Hughes’ private train rolled into town.

After receiving $500m from the sale of TWA, he deployed that capital in Las Vegas, taking out many of the original, mob-backed casino hotels, including The Desert Inn (where he did not leave his suite), Sands, Castaways, Frontier, Silver Slipper and Landmark. He also acquired mines, TV channels and land, including what is now the master-planned suburb of Summerlin, crucial for Las Vegas’ population growth recent decades.

On Thanksgiving eve 1970, Hughes quietly departed. He was virtually unseen during his entire stay.

Howard Hughes’ legacy is complex; none of his properties survive today, but the investments he made have paid dividends decades after his death. Outside his direct holdings, Hughes’ political muscle provided the catalyst for the changes in casino ownership laws and regulations, enabling corporate investment in Las Vegas and the exit of the original developers and operators.

July 31, 1969

Hughes’ great airline adversary, Kirk Kerkorian, had invested in Las Vegas since acquiring points in The Dunes in the 1950s, but it was his investment in Caesars Palace that had paid greatest dividends. He saw advantages in scale, the entertainment impact from the Rat Pack’s residency and profitability of a successful casino. The International opened on July 2 1969, as the largest hotel in Las Vegas with 1,500 rooms, but the real legacy at that property began four weeks later. After an opening run by Barbra Streisand, the resident headliner, Elvis Presley, took to the stage for the first of his 636 shows over a seven-year period. Alongside Sinatra, Elvis was to become synonymous with the city; however, unlike many of the other entertainers in town, Elvis was aged just 34 when the residency commenced and (like Streisand, then aged 26) appealed to a much younger customer demographic than was typically found in Vegas’ casinos.

The residency affirmed Las Vegas as a premium destination for spectacular headline performers in a relatival intimate setting (arguably one created by Liberace in the 1950s) but, moreover, it marked the first transition from the first generation of customers to the next. The willingness and ability of Las Vegas operators to navigate demographic transition is a hallmark of its sustainability. Kerkorian’s ownership was to last only two years as Hilton acquired the company yet, undeterred, Kerkorian was to return.

November 21, 1980

Kerkorian’s first MGM Grand followed the same strategy as The International; size, scale and entertainment. Opening in 1973, Dean Martin made the showroom his home. The property’s Las Vegas legacy, though, is somewhat darker.

Blame has been attributed to electrical causes, although some conjecture has suggested arson; the fire that occurred on the property in November 1980 killed 85 people, was the second-most lethal hotel fire in American history, and the deadliest day in Las Vegas’ history. Insignificant to the terrible cost to those involved, the impact on the market was profound.

Already, visitation was falling, thanks to the competition from Atlantic City, New Jersey, the wider economic conditions in the US, and to have a visit to Las Vegas be a potential hazardous event, was damaging to tourism. The consequential changes to the fire code in Nevada were among the most stringent in the USA, and despite a second fire at The Hilton weeks later, Las Vegas’ fire safety codes have proved robust. For most of the 1980s, Las Vegas existed in the shadow of wider events, some even wondered whether it would ever recover.

November 22, 1989

If the opening of Caesars Palace wasn’t Las Vegas’ biggest bet, The Mirage certainly was. 

As a guest, visiting Caesars Palace on opening night, Steve Wynn inhaled the energy and resolved to build a career in Las Vegas. After developing the Golden Nugget properties in Las Vegas and Atlantic City, building an impressive culture and management systems, a loyal customer base, a team of dedicated employees and executives, and empowered by an willing financing partner, The Mirage took all that had come before and brought it together for the most ambitious – and expensive – resort ever seen on the planet. Everything was planned, proved and perfected.

There was a Las Vegas before The Mirage… and a Las Vegas after. 

The impact was transformative, breaking records in both gaming and non-gaming revenues, restating Las Vegas as a major destination. The megaresort boom followed, with over a dozen new properties opening over the next decade; visitation increased by 108%, room inventory by 102% and gaming revenue by 144%. Steve Wynn reinvented the business model and redefined Las Vegas, with the opening of The Mirage being the seminal event in the history of the city.

December 14, 1995

With the growth of The Las Vegas Strip, there were winners and losers, with the Downtown Las Vegas market feeling the cost of competition. Although Wynn’s own Golden Nugget continued to grow and outperform the market, other properties, which had not seen reinvestment, were struggling. Indeed, local Laughlin, regional riverboat casinos and early tribal properties were challenging both Nevada and Atlantic City for gaming revenue.

There was a genuine fear of market obsolescence in Downtown and, in what was to prove a valuable case study, many of the competing operators in that market cooperated in developing a solution for the common good.

The Fremont Street Experience was formed, and the illuminated canopy was switched on in December1995. The market decline abated but, moreover, the lessons in placemaking (that Wynn had proved in The Mirage) have been applied to another location in Las Vegas. It is undoubted that without the action taken – or even with a different, less ambitious strategy – we would not have seen Downtown Las Vegas endure as a sustainable destination.

October 15, 1998

Having revived The Strip with The Mirage and the adjacent Treasure Island, Downtown at The Golden Nugget and with Biloxi’s Beau Rivage – the largest hotel in the USA outside of Las Vegas – under construction, Steve Wynn’s Bellagio was another huge gamble for Mirage Resorts. 

There had always been wealthy people that liked to gamble, but Las Vegas was certainly not a destination of choice for those nongamblers that sought luxury vacations.

The Bellagio was to change that, bringing the world’s leading fashion brands and opulent restaurants to a 3,000-room resort, focused on high-end customers. At a cost of $1.6bn to build, it was the world’s most expensive resort; but notably not the largest, even on The Strip. The ambition to attract, and more importantly to deliver, luxury at scale showed how far Las Vegas had come.

May 4, 1999

The Sands Expo Convention Center opened in November 1990. Sheldon Adelson was a conventions guy – not a casino operator – but after imploding the Sands Hotel in 1996, work commenced on the Venetian, a conventioncentric hotel – with a casino.

Conventions were part of the business mix of Las Vegas since 1959 but were considered an amenity to boost mid-week occupancy. Adelson saw it differently, believing Las Vegas was underserved as a convention destination.

It would be fair to state that the opening of The Venetian in May 1999 was not as smooth as at Bellagio, but the long-term impact was just as transformative, albeit for a different customer base.

In 1998, Las Vegas had 1.2 million visiting convention delegates, compared to 2025, with over 6 million and over 22,000 meetings and conventions. Not only is Las Vegas the leading convention and trade show market in the world, under the new ownership of VICI and Apollo, The Venetian was again ranked the leading convention hotel in the US.

For Sands, Adelson saw the profitability of the casino business and led the charge to Macau and Singapore for US operators, before his passing in 2021.

March 6, 2000

When it was announced on March 6 2000 that MGM was to acquire Mirage Resorts for $4.4bn, it was to change the nature of Las Vegas resort ownership.

It left Wynn to start all over again, albeit with $480m in his bank account, and MGMMirage with five and a half resorts on The Strip, an assortment of properties nationally and globally diversified. It also started the M&A boom of the period; MGM was to acquire Mandalay Resorts for $7.9bn in 2004, and Harrah’s, under the leadership of Phil Satre, was to embark on an acquisition spree, which ended in the company being taken private by Apollo and TPG in 2008 for nearly $30bn.

December 15, 2010

The decade had been an eventful one for Las Vegas. Steve Wynn had returned to market, repeating his Bellagio strategy at the architecturally iconic Wynn (2005) and Encore (2008), MGM had built City Center, the Las Vegas companies that achieved licensure had opened in Macau and were building in Cotai.

And of course there was the global financial crisis that hit Las Vegas hard. Projects under construction were left abandoned as credit dried up. Some companies skirted with bankruptcy, others went under. Although spending and visitation were down, even in the nadir year of 2009, Las Vegas still attracted 36 million visitors.

It was one of those stalled properties that was to have an outsized impact to Las Vegas, as Deutsche Bank determined that it would realize greatest value by completing The Cosmopolitan, rather than leaving the project unfinished.

After opening on December 15, 2010, customers found the programming and experience was very different to the existing Las Vegas offer; it was aimed at and attracted a new, younger generation to the city. It worked.

In 2010, 29% of Las Vegas visitors were under 40, with the average age of visitor being 49.2. A decade later, although somewhat exaggerated due to post-Covid behaviors, the comparison was 49% under 40, with average age of 42.3. Las Vegas was reinvented again and The Cosmopolitan was the most prominent symbol of this change, and “Cosmopolitan inspired” bars, clubs and dining options filled the market.

Although it took time for these new customers to grow into gamers, the increased spending power of this customer segment on non-gaming experiences proved apparent.

Deutsche sold the property to Blackstone for $1.7bn in 2014, which subsequently invested further before exiting to a consortium, with MGM operating, for a total of $5.6bn in 2022.

April 6, 2016

AEG, which operated showrooms across the city, saw the value of an arena-sized venue in Las Vegas; the economics of developing such a building, versus adding additional casino spaces or guestrooms, were not compelling enough for the city’s gaming -focused operators.

MGM had proven the case for such a venue at the 17,000-capacity Grand Garden Arena, servicing major artists and sporting events to boost secondary revenues, but to develop a standalone, competing venue was counterintuitive. It remained a gamble, with the potential of attracting a major sporting franchise, the upside was worth the risk.

Opening on April 6, 2016, The T-Mobile Arena became the largest entertainment venue on The Strip. Costing $375m and holding 20,000 people, entertainers that had bypassed Las Vegas’ showrooms, lined up to play at the multi-purpose venue.
Any concerns whether Las Vegas could support an arena-sized venue were allayed. True to the case that Kerkorian once advocated, Las Vegas proved it could go even bigger on entertainment, and the city finally getting sports team, although who played hockey in the desert?

October 1, 2017

By summer 2017, there was a sense that Las Vegas was finally becoming a real city. It was growing exponentially (again) and diversifying economically. The tourism market had bounced back from the financial crisis, with the 42.9 million visitors in 2016 remaining unsurpassed.

Stalled casino projects were again under construction, The Raiders were relocating from Oakland and, with a new generation of customers in place, events and programming, including large outdoor music festivals, had been curated nearly every other weekend.

It was at The Route 91 Music Festival, adjacent to Mandalay Bay, where a gunman (that I will not name) shot repeatedly through a hotel room window, killing 60 people and injuring over 800 in the worst mass shooting
event in US history.

In a place where the currency is escape and fantasy, the reality that Las Vegas was not immune to the dangers of random gun violence, hit home. Unlike the MGM fire, visitation did not significantly decline, as enhanced security infrastructure was applied citywide.

The city came together as a community, in a way that only a tragedy can allow. 10 days later the Golden Knights made their home debut, with both Route 91 survivors and first responders present at the opening ceremony. For many, October 1, 2017 is the date when Las Vegas became a real city, with real city problems.

September 21, 2020

The Raiders’ proposed relocation to Nevada was announced in March 2017 and, shortly after, construction began on a $1.7bn, 70,000 capacity stadium for both sports and large entertainment events.

It is easy to forget that, as recently as 2002, Las Vegas was not permitted to advertise during the Super Bowl, and casinos still weren’t allowed to use the trademarked name of the NFL showpiece, instead inviting customers to “big game” viewings, lest the sport being tainted with the evils found in Las Vegas. As Las Vegas matured, so did America.

Everyone was prepared for 2020 to be a memorable year for Las Vegas and, as we know, 2020 was indeed a memorable year, but for a very different reason than anticipated. When the Allegiant Stadium opened on September 21, with a (rare) victory for The Raiders, spectators were absent.

However, as one of the finest venues in the country, in a city built for events, it would not take much time for the Allegiant to become a key part of the nation’s entertainment infrastructure.

Since 2020, the Allegiant has hosted global artists from Taylor Swift to Paul McCartney, from BTS to AC/DC, and events galore, including two WWE Wrestlemanias, soccer matches – notably the CONCACAF Gold

Cup Final, rugby, UFC, boxing and the 2024 Super Bowl. The College Football Playoff National Championship (arguably the biggest game in the US sporting calendar outside the Superbowl) will be held at the stadium next year and The Super Bowl returns to Las Vegas in 2029.

By 2025, The Allegiant was the highestgrossing stadium in the US (for the second consecutive year) with $281m in gross entertainment revenue, and second-highest grossing entertainment venue in the country. It would take something really compelling to be able to top it in terms of both revenues and spectacle.

September 29, 2023

In 2018, just 3.3 miles away from The Allegiant (around the same distance from The El Rancho to The Flamingo) James Dolan secured a site for his MSG arena, a 20,000-capacity concert hall built primarily for live entertainment.

With a forecast cost of $1.2bn with no hotel, restaurants or casino, many in the city couldn’t see how the economics worked. Final costs were reported at $2.3bn. Even the optimists were pessimistic.

With a U2 residency opening The Sphere on September 29, global attention turned to the ultimate embodiment of the digital age. With specially produced immersive movies (and a remaster of The Wizard of Oz) playing daily on the screen, complemented by residencies from a select group of performers and occasional special events, it is has become instantly iconic, both inside and out, thanks to social media and unique customer experience. Every city (except for London, apparently) wants one!

Ticket prices and sponsorship have busted conventional financial models, making it the highest grossing venue in the nation, generating $781m in gross revenue in 2025. Despite proclamations over decades, by the mid-2020s, Las Vegas really is the entertainment capital of the world.

Drawing on 21

Of course, this is not exhaustive; there are many other impactful events that could have made the list, but drawing on 21 surely is not a good idea! Missing from this list, although some are referenced, are The Cuban Revolution, Atomic Testing, Evel Knievel’s jump, UNLV, Bill Bennett taking over Circus Circus, Riklis at The Riviera, Wynn buying the Nugget, the legalization of gaming in Atlantic City, the takedown of organized crime, The Forum Shops, The Hard Rock and Palms, Celine at the Colosseum, The Hangover, The TPG/Apollo acquisition of Caesars, Wynn’s opening, Superbowl in Vegas and the impact of Formula 1. On another day, some of these would have made it.

In this list, we note that eight of these transformational events have been casino openings, two are non-gaming celebrity/ entertainment drivers (with a case for Celine to be a third), the development of five nongaming attractions (including The Hoover Dam as an attraction), four legislative and financial events, and two tragedies.

What makes Las Vegas unique is the relentless desire to compete and innovate in a market that generously rewards success unlike anywhere else. Moreover, considering the layers of infrastructure in place, economic resilience and unmatched ability to renew every generation, there are few destination locations (within segments) that share such inelasticity.

As a development professional, the value of knowing our history is that there are practical applications to this knowledge. Many of these events, sometimes decades apart, share remarkably similar pathways, deploying remarkably similar strategies, and have delivered remarkably similar outcomes.

As we mark this landmark anniversary at Players Publishing – and my own upcoming birthday – it seems appropriate to invoke the Las Vegas refrain, “Well done, that’s fantastic, but what’s next?”

Oliver Lovat is the CEO of the Denstone Group. He consults on development and the strategic positioning of casino resorts.