The Las Vegas Strip

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The area that immediately comes to mind when gambling is mentioned is the Las Vegas Strip. This four mile stretch contains the world's most well known land casinos and hotels. Opulent to the extreme the Strip is a tourist attraction in itself, though along with great gambling it offers night life entertainment and sumptuous dining. However, the Strip was not the first Las Vegas location to offer gambling.

The Nevada legislature legalized gambling in Las Vegas in 1931. At that time the community consisted largely of migrant males working on the Hoover Dam. Illegal gambling and showgirl theatres controlled by a combination of local Las Vegas business owners, Mormon financiers, and Mafia crime lords flourished. The state wanted a piece of the action and the first license was issued to Northern Club on Fremont Street. Soon Fremont Street had a number of land casinos and became the first paved street with traffic lights in Las Vegas. Today Fremont Street is in Downtown Vegas, the other gambling location in the city.

The first casino on the Strip was El Rancho Vegas, which opened in 1941. Unfortunately this historic landmark was destroyed by a fire in 1960. Seeing the potential of the Strip, organized crime syndicates from other parts of the country moved in. The first one was Bugsy Siegel from New York, who started the Flamingo in 1946. Today the Flamingo is owned by Harrah's and is the oldest resort on the strip. Many of the casinos, such as the Desert Inn, were funded through the American National Insurance Company, which was connected with the gambling empire of Galveston in Texas. Guy McAfee was a Los Angeles police officer with several underground interests. In 1938 he was forced to flee Los Angeles and came to Las Vegas. He began to acquire interests in casinos, with his most notable one being the Golden Nugget, which in 1946 claimed to be the world's largest casino. All these casinos were on the Arrowhead Highway and at that time the casino area was known by that name. McAfee renamed it The Strip after the Sunset Strip of Los Angeles.

In 1968 Kirk Kerkorian along with architect Martin Stern moved to the Strip. Kerkorian had just sold his Trans International Airlines for $104 million and had big plans in mind. It was their team that ushered in the mega resort culture and the Strip owes its present grandeur to the duo. Kerkorian immediately purchased the Flamingo and in 1969 opened the International Hotel, which is today known as the Las Vegas Hilton. Kerkorian had also purchased MGM and the MGM Grand Hotel and Casino opened in the Strip in 1973. In 1980, the MGM Grand suffered the worst fire in the history of Las Vegas, killing 87 people. In 1986, Kerkorian sold the MGM Grand to Bally Manufacturing, and it was renamed Bally's. Kerkorian has largely divested from the Vegas Strip casinos, though he is still a regular visitor to Las Vegas.

Today 19 of the world's 25 largest hotels are on the Strip. The best known land casinos are The Venetian, The Mirage, Harrah's, Caesar's Palace and Bellagio. However, on the flip side in 2006, the Las Vegas Strip lost it number one spot as the highest grossing gambling center to Macau.

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