Clark County officials this week approved Rhode Island-based Bally’s Corporation’s application to implode the venerable Tropicana Las Vegas casino resort.
The Trop, as it was affectionately known by many locals, closed on April 2. It has been a fixture of the Las Vegas strip since 1957.
Bally’s plans to implode the casino and hotel by September or October. It closed the Tropicana to make way for a Major League Baseball ballpark that will host the renamed Oakland Athletics after their planned move to Las Vegas.
The application gave the latest date of October 20. The demolition duties will be handled by California-based GGG Demolition.
Historic Building
The Tropicana has the oldest remaining hotel rooms on the Las Vegas Strip. But not for long.
Throughout its near 67-year history, the casino and hotel was host to many of the most famous stars of the ’50s and ’60s. Several famous movies were filmed at the venue, including Elvis Presley in Viva Las Vegas and Sean Connery’s James Bond in Diamonds are Forever. It was also, for a time, partly owned by Rat Pack star Sammy Davis Jr.
However, mob-connected scandals and a series of failed owners in the late ’70s and early ’80s brought the venue to a shell of its original glory.
Bally’s entered into a lease agreement with current site owners Gaming and Leisure Properties in 2021. It closed the Tropicana on April 2, and filed the application for implosion on April 11.
Preconditions Met
The demolition is set to cost $15 million, according to the permit application. Although it has now been approved, there still remain a couple more hurdles to the process.
First, Bally’s has yet to pay the $48,000 in fees for the permit. It also has to finalize stumping up $15 million to fund the demolition. Lastly, demolition company GGG has not finalized its own Nevada licensing and permits.
Bally’s chairman Soo Kim told reporters this week he was confident all of the above would go through smoothly.
Although Bally’s has had a turbulent financial period in recent months, it has previously confirmed that the $15 million demolition will be funded by the site’s land owners, Gaming and Leisure Properties.
“There are some preconditions that have to be met that they are working on,” Kim said. “If not that, either way it will be done.”
The Rhode Island-based operator is preparing to pay out billions in the next few years for several projects. As well as the planned MLB stadium on the Tropicana site, it has also been licensed to build a massive casino resort in downtown Chicago.
David is an online casino expert who specializes in online slots and boasts over 10 years experience writing about iGaming. He has written for a wide range of notable publications, including eSports Insider and WordPlay Magazine.
David graduated Derby University with a BA Degree in English Literature and Creative Writing.
