History of Las Vegas casinos

Las Vegas history

The first ever European who came to Las Vegas had been Rafael Rivera who discovered the area. The place had been given the name Las Vegas, which in Spanish means the meadows since at the time the area had plenty of green pasture and plenty of water.

Las Vegas had been officially declared as a city only in 1905 and when the divorce laws in the city had been liberalized plenty of people flocked to Las Vegas. According to the law, people could get a divorce in just six weeks. The people who came to the city to get divorced often stayed in what was known as a dude ranch in those days.

When the Hover Dam had been constructed in the city, several more doors opened up for Vegas. The economy of the city flourished and population increased. During the World War, it became an important center for many different defense industries since there was plenty of water supply in the area. The US military site and the Air Force Base had been set up in the area.

It was also in 1931 that gambling had been legalized in Nevada and there the city's real growth story began. The first ever casino in Vegas had been opened in 1946 December on the highway. This had been the Flamingo Casino, which was quite well known. From then till 1957, the city flourished and became an important center for adult entertainment options. The very well known sign of Las Vegas had been designed in 1959 by Betty Willis.

Casinos in Vegas

Things again changed for Las Vegas in the 1960s when Howard Hughes saw huge potential in the city and considered it to be an important place for investment. The acquired plenty of casinos and hotels and set up several large establishments in the city. Huge casinos soon lined up the streets of the city. Las Vegas also became the playground of the rich and famous from all over the world and the favorite party place for the Hollywood stars. Everyone from Frank Sinatra, Sammy Davis Jr, Dean Martin and several others considered Vegas to be their second home.

The Hilton hotel opened up its doors to the public in 1969. Even today the most famous tourist destination in the city is the famous Las Vegas Strip which is four miles long and is lined with casinos on both sides. Today several world's best casinos are located on the strips like the Casino Royale, Flamingo, Caesars Palace, Hard Rock casino, Circus Circus casino, Palms, the Venetian casino, Billy's casino and plenty of other names.