Las Vegas Strip Likely to Lose Casino Royale

Posted on: August 4, 2023, 12:24h. 

Last updated on: August 7, 2023, 09:12h.

Corey Levitan Read More
Expertise: Commercial Gaming, Entertainment, Expert Insight, Las Vegas, Restaurants, Las Vegas Myths.

The Casino Royale may be the next Las Vegas icon to meet the wrecking ball. The owners of the casino hotel, a Strip fixture since 1964, just received FAA approval to build a 699-foot tower in the space.

The Casino Royale, a fixture of the Las Vegas Strip since 1964, may soon be no more. The Best Western chain, the property’s owner since 2012, plans to replace it with a new 699-foot tower. (Image: Wikipedia)

The news was broken by Casino.org’s own Vital Vegas blogger Scott Roeben. who published the contents of a July 21, 2023 letter documenting the FAA’s approval of the project.

The aeronautical study revealed that the structure would have no substantial adverse effect on the safe and efficient utilization of the navigable airspace by aircraft or on the operation of air navigation facilities,” it read.

The Casino Royale’s owners have until Jan. 21, 2025, to build their tower, or else the FAA’s approval will expire.

In probably related news, Roeben reported that staffers at the property’s Outback Steakhouse were informed that the restaurant will close, though casino employees were given no such notice.

Royale Welcome

The 164-room Casino Royale opened in between the Flamingo and the Desert Inn (now Wynn Las Vegas) on the east side of Las Vegas Boulevard in 1964. It was originally the 164-room Caravan Motor Hotel. Its gaming hall debuted in 1978 as the Nob Hill Casino.

In 1990, both the Nob Hill and Caravan were purchased for $17 million by the Elardi family, owners of the Frontier at the time. They combined the two businesses into the Casino Royale, which opened two years later with a gaming floor upgraded to 10K feet with 225 slots and four table games.

In 2012, the Casino Royale became part of the Best Western chain.

No approved plans on the Las Vegas Strip are guaranteed to cross the finish line, however. There’s even an example at the Casino Royale.

In 1994, the Elardi family proposed another construction project that received several approvals before eventually stalling. It was an amusement ride known as a space probe. The powerful Culinary Union objected, as did the neighboring resorts, which argued that it wouldn’t fit in with the Strip.