The Mirage is a Polynesian-themed hotel and casino on the Las Vegas Strip with 2,300 slot machines, offering both video slots and video poker. They accept denominations from one cent up to $1,000.
The live gaming floor includes 135 tables with dealers, offering blackjack, baccarat, craps, pai gow, roulette and variants of poker. There are tables that also offer a non-smoking experience for customers.
The Mirage Poker Room has 20 tables, offering a mixture of both cash and poker tournaments. The dealers are trained in both hold’em and omaha.
The High-Limit Lounge facilitates bets up to $10,000 and offers video poker, baccarat and blackjack.
The land on which The Mirage was built was first purchased in October 1986 by Steve Wynn, which included the Castaways casino and the house of actress Grace Hayes. These were demolished and construction for the property began in November 1987, with an initial projected cost of $550m and a finished cost of $630m.
The Mirage first opened at noon on November 22, 1989. The opening date was pulled forward from December 7 to December 6 to account for a major boxing match between Sugar Ray Leonard and Roberto Durán III, which was hosted at the hotel.
The resort underwent an immediate expansion in 1990, costing $100m and adding villas, a larger pool and a parking garage.
In 1995, Wynn spent another $55m renovating the venue once again.
The hotel rooms were renovated in 2002 and 2006 to help The Mirage keep up with its competition. The resort also added several restaurants and nightclubs to broaden its customer base.
The year 2008 would bring yet another renovation, costing $100m and updating the casino floor.
In 2016, ownership of The Mirage was transferred to MGM Growth Properties.
In December 2021, Hard Rock International agreed to purchase The Mirage’s operators from MGM for just over $1bn, rebranding the resort as Hard Rock Las Vegas. The name, ‘The Mirage’ will be licensed until 2025, until the full rebranding takes effect.
The next stage of The Mirage is expected to welcome another major renovation in 2024, with the Hard Rock Las Vegas iteration anticipated to open from 2025 onwards.
The Seminole Tribe entered the international stage when it acquired the Hard Rock International brand from The Rank Group in March, 2007. The deal was signed for $965m, one of the largest purchases from any tribe at the time.
The Seminole people originally existed as many hundreds of separate tribes connected through the Maskókî language. They were among the first to settle in Florida, with the tribe already long established by the time the Spanish arrived.
While the Seminole Tribe did not exist as a political entity until the tribe was federally recognized in 1957, the tribal history extends back for many thousands of years.
The Seminole Tribe became the first tribal gaming operators on the Las Vegas Strip when they finalized the purchase of The Mirage on December 19, 2022.
The Mirage currently offers 3,044 rooms at the venue, from a Resort King up to two-bedroom Penthouse Suites, located on the top two floors of the towers. In addition, The Mirage also offers villas and lanais, each with a small fountain, pool and faux-grass lawn.
The Mirage offers several long-standing shows, including The Beatles LOVE by Cirque du Soleil and Shin Lim’s show. There are also regular comedy acts held at The Mirage Theater.
The Spa & Salon spans across 20,000 sq ft and includes 16 treatment rooms. The full-service salon offers manicures, pedicures, makeup and hair services as well as steam rooms, saunas and whirlpools.
The volcano was one of the first features of The Mirage, operating on day one when the venue opened. It would ‘erupt’ regularly, giving a free show to passersby, with whitewater from the volcano simulating lava alongside a piña colada scent.
After the $25m renovation in 2008, the new volcano would shoot water 12ft in the air and 120 flamethrower devices spout out flames on the lagoon. The attraction is choreographed to music by Mickey Hart and Zakir Hussain.
However, after Hard Rock International acquired The Mirage, it announced that it would be removing the volcano feature once it rebrands the property.
