Resorts World Las Vegas Grand Opening Features Celebrities, Fanfare

Posted on: June 26, 2021, 12:38h. 

Last updated on: June 27, 2021, 05:42h.

Larry Henry Read More
Expertise: Commercial Gaming, Gaming Business, Legislation, Politics, Regulation.

The opening of Resorts World Las Vegas on the Strip this week attracted celebrities and received praise from many who attended.

Resorts World Elvis image
Visitors to Resorts World Las Vegas gather beneath artwork featuring Elvis Presley. Artwork at the resort recalls earlier Las Vegas performers, including Presley and Frank Sinatra. (Image: Tommy Canale)

The hotel-casino opened to the public on Thursday at 11 pm, accompanied by a fireworks show. The 3,506-room resort, owned by the Malaysia-based Genting Group, features three Hilton-branded hotels, each with its own entrance. 

Among the celebrities in attendance was socialite Paris Hilton, who made a point of supporting Britney Spears in the pop star’s current legal battle. 

Spears, who did not attend the Resorts World event, is seeking to end the court-ordered conservatorship that gives her father control of her career and finances. The next court date regarding the matter is set for July 14.

At the Resort World opening, Hilton said, during a DJ set, “We love you, Britney. Free Britney,” according to the Hollywood website TMZ.

Hilton’s statement “had the whole place going berserk,” TMZ reported.

Former Mafia Site

Others in attendance included Gov. Steve Sisolak (D), Circa Resort owner Derek Stevens, and Las Vegas Raiders owner Mark Davis.

TMZ also reported on Davis’ appearance at the grand opening, noting that the NFL team’s owner had been in a minor auto accident one day earlier at a local shopping complex. 

“The 66-year-old was spotted laughing, gambling, and rubbing elbows with big-time celebs at Thursday’s Resorts World Las Vegas party, clearly unfazed that his Mini Cooper was damaged in a wreck Wednesday,” TMZ reported.

The website added, “We’re sure Davis — who’s reportedly worth more than $500 million — found some other mode of transportation to the party Thursday night.”

Resorts World Las Vegas is the first new hotel-casino to open on the Strip since the Cosmopolitan Las Vegas debuted in December 2010. Both properties are on the west side of the Strip. The Cosmopolitan towers over the older Jockey Club near the Bellagio. Resort World is at the north end, near the 1960s era Circus Circus and smaller Slots-A-Fun casinos.

Resorts World was built at the site of the now-demolished Stardust hotel-casino, a property once controlled by Midwestern Mafia families.

‘A New Standard’

Resorts World’s opening on Thursday was met with generally positive reviews. The $4.3 billion property has nine swimming pools, 40 dining and drinking establishments, and several luxury stores.  

“It is so magnificent, it is so phenomenal, so over the top,” the governor told the Las Vegas Sun. “It’s setting a new standard, and it’s raising the bar very, very high.”

Local tourism and media representatives have expressed hope that Resorts World will help bring new life to the slow-to-revive north end of the Strip. 

Resorts World is beautiful,” Tommy Canale, a Las Vegas podcast host, told Casino.org. “Vegas needed this.” Canale hosts the Las Vegas-based Before the Lights and The Golf Zone podcasts.

Some who attended Thursday’s opening noted that glitches occurred.

“Tonight’s top tip for your visit to the new cashless casino resort: Bring cash,” the Twitter feed Vital Vegas noted. “A good number of venues aren’t accepting credit cards or digital payments due to point-of-sale fails.”