In Las Vegas, a casino that had a huge history met its demise last week as the city prepares for even more sports team expansion. Per a recent national report, Sin City blew a kiss goodbye to the Tropicana earlier this month in an elaborate implosion that reduced to rubble the last true mob building on the Las Vegas Strip. The Tropicana’s hotel towers tumbled in a celebration that included a fireworks display. Additionally, it was the first implosion in nearly a decade for a city that loves fresh starts and that has made casino implosions as much a part of its identity as gambling itself.
For this report, SBS will be going over what to look for from the latest gaming news coming from Sin City along with more notes and information regarding Vegas wagering and beyond.
Also noted in the report, implosions on the famous trip have become a spectacle like the destination itself. “What Las Vegas has done in classic Las Vegas style, they’ve turned many of these implosions into spectacles,” said Geoff Schumacher, historian and vice president of exhibits and programs at the Mob Museum.
Former casino mogul Steve Wynn changed the way Las Vegas blew up casinos in 1993 with the implosion of the Dunes to make room for the Bellagio. Wynn thought not only to televise the event but also create a fantastical story for the implosion that made it look like pirate ships at his other casino across the street were firing at the Dunes.
From the on, Schumacher said, there was a sense in Las Vegas that destruction of that magnitude was worth witnessing. The city hadn’t blown up a Strip casino since 2016 when the final tower of the Riviera was leveled for a convention center expansion. This time, the implosion cleared land for a $1.5 billion baseball stadium to relocate Oakland Athletics, part of the city’s latest rebrand into a sports hub.
Noted in the same article, after the implosion, that will leave only the Flamingo from the city’s mob era on the Strip. However, Schumacher noted, that the Flamingo’s original structures are in the long gone and the casino was completely rebuilt in the 1990s. The Tropicana, the third-oldest casino on the Strip, closed in April after welcoming guests for 67 years. Once known as the “Tiffany of the Strip” for its opulence, it was a frequent haunt of the legendary Rat Pack, while its past under the mob has long cemented its place in Las Vegas lore. It opened in 1957 with three stories and 300 hotel rooms split into two wings.
Additionally touched on in the national article, as Las Vegas rapidly evolved in the following decades, including a building boom of Strip megaresorts in the 1990s, the Tropicana also underwent major changes. Two hotel towers were added in later years. Later, in 1979, the casino’s beloved $1 million green-and-amber stained glass ceiling was installed above the casino floor. The Tropicana’s original low-rise hotel wings survived many renovations, making it the ‘last true mob structure on the Strip.”
Behind the scenes of the casino’s grand opening, the Tropicana had ties to organized crime, largely through reputed mobster Frank Costello, per the same article. Costello was shot in the head in New York weeks after the Tropicana’s debut. He survived, but the investigation led police to a piece of paper in his coat pocket with the Tropicana’s exact earnings figure, revealing the mob’s stake in the casino.
By the 1970s, the article says, federal authorities investigating mobsters in Kansas City charged more than a dozen operatives with conspiring to skim $2 million in gambling revenue from Las Vegas casinos, including the Tropicana. Charges connected to the Tropicana alone resulted in five convictions. There were no public viewing areas for the event, but fans of the Tropicana did have a chance in April to bid farewell to the vintage Vegas relic. “Old Vegas, it’s going,” Joe Zapulla, a teary-eyed New Jersey, said at the time as he exited the casino before locks went on the doors.
Summing things up, the casino operated from 1957 to 2024 and in its final years included a nearly 45,000-foot casino and 1,467 rooms. The complex occupied 35 acres at the southeast corner of the Tropicana-Las Vegas Boulevard intersection. Additionally, the resort was conceived by Ben Jaffe, part owner of the Fontainebleau Hotel in Miami Beach which explains the structural similarities between the two.
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About the Author
Chris Boline is a Reno-based business development professional and freelance sports writer with over a decade of experience covering the NBA G League, Los Angeles Chargers, and national football and basketball. His expertise spans the NFL, NBA, UFC, boxing, golf, and motorsports, along with topical news, marketing, and promotional content. A proud University of Nevada graduate, Chris earned both his BS in Management & Economics (2015) and MBA (2023). He is active in the Reno community, serving on boards such as the Nevada Sagebrush Alumni Chapter, NCET, and the College of Business Alumni Association, where he was past president (2022–23). Notable honors include: - Two-time University of Nevada Alumni Chapter of the Year honoree (2017, 2021) - 2021 NCET Professional Services Organization of the Year (with TAC) - 2016–17 Reno Bighorns MVP, awarded by the Sacramento Kings - Nevada Press Association Award for Best Sports Column (2015) - Former Editor-in-Chief of The Nevada Sagebrush Chris blends his passion for sports with a strong background in sales, marketing, and community engagement.
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