Mirage officially ends operations after 34-year run
Mirage closing ceremony – Gaming America on the move.
After a promotion that saw $1.6m in winnings given away as required by Nevada regulators and one final volcano explosion display, the Mirage Hotel and Casino has closed its doors after a 34-year standing on the Las Vegas strip.
The property held a closing ceremony on July 17, featuring many prominent names in the Las Vegas gaming and hospitality industries including Mirage President Joe Lupo and Hard Rock International Chairman and Seminole Gaming CEO Jim Allen.
“It’s a historic day for the city, we’re really looking forward to paying our respects to the Mirage in a very compassionate way. Not only for the leaders, but for the employees who have played such a big role over the last 34 years,” Lupo told Gaming America before the ceremony began.
“It’s a transcendent property and we hope Hard Rock in 2027 brings another transcendent property to this location. It’s going to be as iconic as the Mirage was in 1989.”
Hard Rock International acquired the Mirage from MGM Resorts for $1.075bn in 2022 and initially announced plans to update the hotel and casino back in November of 2023. The rebranded property has an early estimated opening set for 2027.
The new design will include a complete overhaul of the site, including the development of a new 700-ft guitar-shaped hotel, which is set to be featured in the center of the Las Vegas strip.
During this period of closure, Hard Rock International organized $80m worth of severance packages, set to be paid to all eligible union and non-union employees.
“Closing the Mirage is a very humbling experience. We have committed $80m in severance and really hope that many of the employees leaving will choose to come back and see us,” Allen said during the ceremony.
“That is the legacy of the Mirage, hotels are only as good as the service we offer to our guests. We will not and cannot compromise making business decisions that are not of an employee mindset. Mirage was never about building a casino, but a destination and integrated resort.”
Elaine Wynn, Co-Founder of Wynn Resorts with her former husband Steve Wynn, oversaw the original construction of the Mirage and opened the property with her husband, bringing a new element to the Las Vegas strip. She refused to see the ceremony as a true closing, however.
“This is the first time I’m at an ‘adjustment’ of one of my own properties. I didn’t really realize until I walked into the building today and looked around,” Wynn said in her ceremony speech.
“We refresh, we reinvest and we make Las Vegas one of the greatest cities in the world for that. We don’t let our buildings get old, we just let the bosses get old.”
Wynn also spoke on the process behind originally creating the Mirage back in the 1980’s, mentioning architect Roger Thomas as one of the main reasons the Mirage became the destination tourists enjoyed over its 34-year run.
“It gave us an opportunity to let our imagination run wild. The notion that we could create a tropical paradise with gardens, dolphins and a volcano was really a breakthrough for one of our own, Roger Thomas,” Wynn said.
The first female to serve as Mayor of Las Vegas, Jan Jones Blackhurst, was invited to speak at the closing ceremony as well.
“The Mirage changed everything. Las Vegas learned who it could be and has become the envy of the hospitality world. The Mirage taught us we could become whatever we envision,” Blackhurst said.
“Everything they say we can’t do, we do in spades. The Mirage ushered in a new era of Las Vegas with its employees and hospitality.”
The Mirage officially closed its doors at 11am local time on July 17, having celebrated its history with the woman behind its creation, 137 day one employees and the group of people who will turn the property into the newest feature on the Las Vegas strip sometime in the coming years.
Locals, executives and news coverage teams gathered to watch as Lupo and Allen honored the legacy and beauty of what the Mirage Hotel and Casino brought to Las Vegas for over three decades.
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