1855
Establishment of Las Vegas by Mormon settlers

1911
Las Vegas incorporated as a city

1931
Gambling Legalized in Nevada

1941
First Strip Hotel Open: El Rancho Vegas (04/03/41)
First Downtown Casino: El Cortez Hotel

1946
Bugsy Siegel opens the Flamingo Hotel (12/26/46)

1975
Nevada Gaming Revenues reach $1 Billion level.

1977
Clark County Gaming Revenue reaches the $1 Billion level.

1989
The Mirage opens with 3,039 rooms (11/22/89)

1990
Excalibur opens with record 4,032 rooms (06/19/90)

1993
Nevada Gaming revenue reaches $6 Billion
MGM Hotel opens with 5,005 rooms (largest in the world then—12/18/93)

1996
Stratosphere Hotel opens (tallest structure west of Mississippi River at the time—04/30/96)

1997
New York, New York Casino opens (01/03/97)

1998
Bellagio Hotel opens (then the most expensive hotel built—$1.7 Billion—0/15/98)
Nevada annual gaming revenue reaches $8.1 Billion
Annual visitor counts to Las Vegas reach 30.6 million people

1999
Mandalay Bay opens with 3,300 rooms (03/02/99)
Paris Hotel opens (09/01/99)

2003
THEhotel @ Mandalay Bay opens (12/17/03) total rooms = 4,766 rooms (43-story tower, with largest standard room—705 square feet)
Venezia Tower opens at the Venetian with an additional 1,013 suites. (06/27/03)

2004
Barrick Gaming purchased the Plaza, Las Vegas Club, and Gold Spike casinos (3/25/04)
MGM Mirage in discussion for the purchase of Mandalay Bay Group for an estimated $7.9 billion (6/04)
Colony Resorts purchased Las Vegas Hilton from Caesars Entertainment (6/04)
The Appian Way, a new pedestrian entrance to Caesars Palace, opened (7/1/04)
Boyd Gaming became the 5th largest gaming operator in the USA after it merged with Coast Casinos (7/1/04)
Convention & meeting room space exceeds 8.9 million square feet: Las Vegas Convention Center (3.2 million sq feet); Cashman Center (0.5 million sq ft); Hotel Conference Rooms: (5.2 million sq ft)
Spa Tower opens at the Bellagio with 928 more rooms (12/23/04)

2005
Wynn Las Vegas opened April 28th (Elaine Wynn’s birthday) with a 2,698-room hotel and casino on the 192 acres formerly occupied by the Desert Inn. The resort features a full-service Ferrari and Maserati dealership and an extensive art collection. The hotel has the tallest tower in the valley—514 feet and 45 stories. The resort also features an 8-story (100-foot) mountain overlooking a 3-acre lake at the corner of Sands and Las Vegas Boulevards.
The new Augusus Tower at Caesars Palace opened in May, 2005, bringing the resort’s total room count to 3,370.
Harrah’s Entertainment, headquartered in Las Vegas, became the world’s largest owner/operator of casinos with the completed purchase of Caesars Entertainment.(6/13/05)
South Coast Casino (now called the South Point) opened on South Las Vegas Boulevard (12/22/05)

2006
Hooters Casino Hotel (formerly the San Remo) opened February 3rd.
Red Rock Casino Resort & Spa (a Stations property) opened April 19th. Phase One includes a 17-floor tower with 414 rooms & suites. And addition with 436 rooms is scheduled to open in early 2007. Red Rock is the fifteenth Station Casinos property in southern Nevada.

Hard Rock Casino & Hotel was sold to Morgans Hotel Group on May 11th.

Klondike Casino (originally a Motel 6 that opened in 1962 on S. Las Vegas Blvd) closed on June 30th. The property is being redeveloped as a condominium project.

The Stardust closed on November 1st after 48 years in operation to make way for Boyd Gaming’s planned Echelon Place development.

2007
City Crossing Las Vegas, (Saint Rose Parkway & Executive Airport Drive), a $2 Billion mixed use development near Henderson airport broke ground in May.
The Springs Preserve Opens in June
Echelon Place breaks ground on June 19th on 87 acres where the former Stardust, Westward Ho and the Budget Suites were located.
Town Square (Las Vegas Blvd. at I-15 & I-215) opened on November 14th
The Las Vegas Strip, reported a record gambling win of $6.28 billion in 2007. (That is a 2.1 percent increase on top of the 11 percent increase recorded for 2006).
AAA Four Diamond List includes 54 dining and lodging establishments.
75,000 people moved to Clark County in 2007 — Nevada has re-gained the title of the fastest-growing state in the nation.

2008
The Palazzo Tower, of the Venetian, opened in late January
Monte Carlo Hotel damaged in spectacular roof-top fire on January 25th
Eastside Cannery opened August 28th
Aliante Station Casino and Hotel opened November 11th
Wynn’s Encore opened December 20th

2009
M Hotel at St Rose Parkway and I-15 opened March 1st.

Major Casino & Hotel Construction Underway
Echelon (construction halted for now)
Plaza Hotel to be built on former site of New Frontier (groundbreaking on semi-permanent delay)
City Center
Octavius Tower at Ceasars (opening 2009)

Casino Implosions:
The Castaways (1/11/06)
Bourbon Street (2/14/06)
The Boardwalk (5/9/06)
The Stardust (3/13/07)
The New Frontier (11/13/07)