Casino Royale Hotel & Casino

History

Nob Hill (1978-1992)

Before 1992, this property neighbored the Sands Hotel Casino and contained several motels, restaurants and casinos: Bill's Place, Bon Aire Motel, Motor Inn Motel, Louigi's Charcoal Broiler, and Frank Musso's Restaurant. In the 1960s, a Denny's restaurant was built on the site.

What is now Casino Royale's hotel opened in the spring of 1964 as the Caravan Motor Hotel. The 164-room establishment was developed by local construction firm Heers Bros, Inc.

In July 1978, the Nob Hill Casino opened between the Denny's and Travelodge. It was operated by a group of four partners who also owned the nearby Holiday Casino (now Harrah's), led by Claudine Williams. The Nob Hill became famous as a new smaller Strip casino with the lowest Strip limits at table games, including 25¢ craps, 10¢ roulette, and $1 blackjack. In 1983, Holiday Inns purchased the operating business of the Nob Hill, as part of a package deal in which it also acquired full ownership of the Holiday Casino. The Nob Hill closed on November 26, 1990, because the lease on the property expired.

Casino Royale (1992-present)

Following its closure, the Nob Hill was remodeled by the Elardi family, who also owned the Frontier hotel-casino on the Strip. On January 1, 1992, the former Nob Hill was reopened by Tommy Elardi as the Casino Royale, featuring 10000 sqft of gaming space with 225 slot machines and 4 table games. Elardi, the general manager and co-owner of the Frontier, purchased the Nob Hill and adjacent hotel for $17 million. From 1993 to 1995, he renovated the property, expanding the casino to 19000 sqft and adding a parking garage. The casino, hotel, and Denny's were connected with a single facade, consisting of Victorian/European-style architecture, giving the appearance of various connected buildings.

From its opening, the Casino Royale was subjected to picketing by members of the Culinary Workers Union because of its shared ownership with the Frontier, where workers had been on strike since September 1991. During 1994, the Elardis planned to build a space probe ride behind Casino Royale. However, the project was scrapped following opposition from the union, as well as nearby resorts, which said the ride would not fit in on the Strip. By 1995, Casino Royale had established a surveillance operation to monitor the picketers as well as its own employees, the latter through listening devices installed in parts of the casino. Picketing continued until 1998, when the strike was resolved by the Elardi family's sale of the Frontier. Casino Royale remains one of the few non-unionized casinos in Las Vegas.

An Outback Steakhouse opened in 2003, becoming the first location inside a casino.

In December 2012, the property was rebranded as part of the Best Western hotel chain. The hotel includes 152 rooms.

In 2014, the Denny's at the north side of the building, which had been the restaurant chain's highest-volume location, was demolished and replaced with a two-story, $9-million addition, with a Walgreens drug store on the ground floor, and a new Denny's on the second floor. The project also added a White Castle burger restaurant, which opened with great fanfare as the chain's first location in the Western United States.

In June 2023, a document has been made by the FAA to build a 699 ft tall building for the Casino Royale site and it was approved in August of that year.

Casino Royale is located at the center of the Strip, It is popular for its cheap amenities, including $3 Beers.

Gaming

Casino Royale has 19000 sqft of gaming space, including slot machines, video poker, and video keno. The casino caters to low rollers, and is known for its promotional slot play. Timeshare promotions in Las Vegas often give out Casino Royale slot play, to be used at specific machines.

In the late 1990s, Casino Royale had the highest odds in Nevada at craps. The game was a 50 cent minimum bet game, which allowed a player to place 100 times more in the odd bet. It was not uncommon to see 50 cent bets with $25 to $50 odds bets. This was when the rest of the Strip was allowed double to 10 times odds. Around 2004, the Casino Royale became the first casino property on the Strip to install Geoff Hall's blackjack variant, Blackjack Switch. The success of Blackjack Switch at the casino led to the game spreading to many other casinos. In 2016, Casino Royale opened its BarBook, a sports book and bar with two William Hill betting stations.

In popular culture

• The Casino Royale is represented in the 2004 video game Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas as the Royal Casino.
• There is a hidden achievement in the 2007 video game Project Gotham Racing 4 in which the player must take a picture in front of the Casino Royale while in an Aston Martin DBS.

Gallery

Image:Casino Royale Hotel and Casino.JPG|Front of casino at night Image:Casino Royale Sign Las Vegas 2008.jpg|Casino Royale sign, 2008 File:Casino Royale Hotel & Casino.jpg| Facade along the Strip File:Denny's is everywhere.jpg|Denny's restaurant, 2009

References

Footnotes

Citations

References

1. Forgione, Mary. (9 January 2013). "Las Vegas: Casino Royale changes hands but not the funky facade". Los Angeles Times.
2. "Architecture Studies Library - University Libraries".
3. UNLV. (4 November 2014). "1953 map".
4. Vintage Las Vegas. (10 August 2016). "Las Vegas Strip: hotels, motels, casinos, race books".
5. Vintage Las Vegas. (4 November 2014). "Caravan Travelodge".
6. (May 21, 1964). "To manage new motor hotel". Las Vegas Review-Journal.
7. (June 28, 1964). "Great Las Vegas future is anticipated". Las Vegas Review-Journal.
8. (October 4, 1968). "Three room burglaries investigated". Las Vegas Review-Journal.
9. (January 21, 1969). "Four seized in theft". Las Vegas Review-Journal.
10. (July 1, 1978). "DeVille casino may open". Las Vegas Review-Journal.
11. (July 5, 1978). "Nob Hill Casino advertisement". Las Vegas Review-Journal.
12. (August 16, 1979). "Holiday Inns wins first OK". Las Vegas Review-Journal.
13. Clyde Weiss. (May 12, 1983). "Lowden, Ramada get OK for stock, bond issuings". Las Vegas Review-Journal.
14. (July 21, 1983). "Former Holiday Casino exec to buy Landmark Hotel". Las Vegas Review-Journal.
15. (November 27, 1990). "Nob Hill Casino closes doors". Las Vegas Review-Journal.
16. (August 27, 2022). "Question of the Day". Las Vegas Advisor.
17. Jeff Burbank. (January 1, 1992). "Union workers target Casino Royale". Las Vegas Review-Journal.
18. Jeff Burbank. (February 1, 1992). "Frontier hotel ads draw concerns". Las Vegas Review-Journal.
19. Jeff Burbank. (January 1, 1992). "Union workers target Casino Royale". Las Vegas Review-Journal.
20. (January 16, 1995). "Casino Royale expands facilities". Las Vegas Review-Journal.
21. John Edwards. (November 14, 1993). "Tom Elardi quietly expanding Casino Royale on Strip". Las Vegas Review-Journal.
22. "Neon Survey: Sunset to Sahara".
23. Gang, Bill. (March 18, 1992). "Suit targets Casino Royale picketers". Las Vegas Sun.
24. Marian Green. (April 12, 1995). "Casino Royale loses bid with NLRB to halt union's picketing". Las Vegas Review-Journal.
25. (July 31, 1994). "Casinos debate ride". Las Vegas Review-Journal.
26. (August 5, 1994). "Commissioners rule space ride 'won't fit in' to sedate Strip". Las Vegas Review-Journal.
27. German, Jeff. (December 26, 1996). "Spying alleged at Casino Royale". Las Vegas Sun.
28. Anthony Curtis. (September 7, 1997). "SportsWorld joins the action". Arizona Republic.
29. (February 1, 1998). "Nation's longest strike comes to an end". Las Vegas Sun.
30. Komenda, Ed. (May 6, 2013). "Union ties: The fates of Culinary and the Strip are inextricably linked". VegasInc.
31. (February 20, 2003). "Outback opens in casino". Las Vegas Sun.
32. Radke, Brock. (September 10, 2014). "The renovating Casino Royale is a sliver of independence (and affordability) on the Strip". Las Vegas Weekly.
33. Horwath, Bryan. (August 21, 2020). "Nearly 100 workers laid off from Strip property". VegasInc.
34. Laura Carroll. (January 2, 2014). "Denny's closes Strip location for reconstruction". Las Vegas Review-Journal.
35. Heidi Knapp Rinella. (November 21, 2014). "Vegas Denny's a grand slam with diners". Las Vegas Review-Journal.
36. Susan Stapleton. (January 3, 2014). "Nation's no. 1 Denny's reopens on the Strip". Eater Las Vegas.
37. Katie Visconti. (January 28, 2015). "White Castle reopens after closing to restock amid huge crowds". Las Vegas Sun.
38. Stapleton, Susan. (January 28, 2015). "Fans line up for hours to try Las Vegas' newest restaurant: White Castle". Chicago Tribune.
39. Schmidt, Ellen. (June 2, 2023). "FAA document suggests redevelopment plans for Casino Royale". Las Vegas Review-Journal.
40. (8 August 2023). "FAA approves new 699-foot tower to be constructed on Casino Royale site in Las Vegas".
41. Ponte, Rob. (March 31, 2008). "Casino Royale: Great deal on central Strip". Las Vegas Sun.
42. (March 6, 2018). "Listing of Financial Statements Square Footage (2017 data)". [[Nevada Gaming Control Board]].
43. Krause, H. Scot. (January 12, 2016). "Casino Royale a unique Vegas slot club". Gaming Today.
44. ThePOGG. (27 November 2012). "ThePOGG Interviews – Geoff Hall – The creator of Blackjack Switch".
45. Curtis, Anthony. (February 26, 2016). "Las Vegas: 2 new sports books open". USA Today.
46. Stein, Martin. (November 25, 2004). "Playing Las Vegas". Las Vegas Weekly.