Mirage Casino deals last hand along Las Vegas Strip

After a 34-year roll on the Las Vegas Strip, the Mirage Hotel and Casino has finally crapped out.

The 3,000-room resort has closed its doors to make way for a three-year transition into the Hard Rock Las Vegas at 3400 South Las Vegas Boulevard, CNN.com Wire Service reported.

Hard Rock International, based in Florida, will swap its tropical theme for a 700-foot-tall hotel tower in the shape of a guitar, similar to its ax-shaped hotel in Hollywood, Florida.

The casino’s famous volcano will make its final blast to make way for new rooms.

The Mirage was opened in 1989 by casino mogul Steve Wynn, ushering in a new era of luxury for the Strip. It was the first resort to have a sidewalk spectacle, the volcano. The curbside wonder prompted the Bellagio and Venetian to imitate the Mirage’s dancing fountains and canals.

Architects told CNN affiliate KSNV-TV that the tropical design created by Wynn was meant to resemble an oasis along the chaotic Las Vegas Strip.

“In this particular facility we said, ‘No you are not in a casino; you are in this beautiful tropical engineered place that made you feel good about yourself,’” Mirage architect Paul Steelman told the NBC station. “And that is what it was for so many years.” 

The Mirage hosted Las Vegas shows such as Siegfried & Roy’s white tigers and a Cirque du Soleil spectacle set to Beatles music.

MGM Resorts International bought the Mirage from Wynn in 2000 and sold it in 2022 for $1.1 billion to Hard Rock International. It’s the second time Hard Rock will have a presence in Las Vegas, with the brand previously owning the now-Virgin Hotel off the Strip, according to CNN.

— Dana Bartholomew

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