Exclusive review: Flamingo continues to wow visitors with its old-school charm

After finding out I’d be staying in the Flamingo while in Las Vegas for G2E 2025, to say I was excited was an understatement.

I had planned on visiting this Vegas staple regardless of where I’d be staying on this trip. However, the stars aligned, and I was able to spend more time here than I thought I would.

And that was a good thing.

My hotel was more than suitable, given the age and longevity of the resort. Besides, I was here for work and basically needed a place to sleep when not at the trade show.

I enjoyed a comfortable stay in my spacious hotel room and had plenty of towels and access to all the extra pillows I needed. A bonus when staying alone in a room with two queen beds! The room was clean, cozy and pink, classic Flamingo flair!

What I also loved about the Flamingo was easy access to everything I wanted to experience, including a spacious gaming floor, plenty of dining options and beautiful photo opportunities when a few minutes walking distance in any direction.

My experience in the casino was wonderful as well. The Flamingo’s gaming floor had all the slots I enjoy playing, and the layout of the space made finding my favorite games easy.

Hospitality workers and staff were kind and accommodating, everything one would want in a great resort. Someone checked on me several times during my time in the casino to offer me drinks and see how I was doing.

Each interaction was pleasant, and the casino staff were friendly and engaging.

Along with quality amenities, dining and a lovely casino floor space, the Flamingo has a rich history and deep roots I find charming and fascinating.

History and Highlights of the Flamingo

The stories you’ve heard about this destination’s origins are correct. Las Vegas was built by the mob, and all of that started with the Flamingo’s debut nearly 80 years ago. The Flamingo is the oldest casino on the Strip, as well as the area’s first mob-built casino.

The Flamingo’s past includes everything from the mafia to Kirk Kerkorian to the 10-year run of Donny and Marie Osmond shows, and the Flamingo reflects the Strip’s tumultuous history of murder and mob connections.

However, the connection between casinos and the mob was nothing new in the United States at the time. Crime families had been involved in owning other casinos, but the Flamingo was the first mob-built casino in the area. Gambling in other parts of Nevada was already in full swing, but up until the mid-1940s, the Las Vegas Strip was uncharted territory.

The Flamingo welcomed first-time guests on Dec. 26, 1946. However, the casino was built earlier that year because of a collaboration between two unlikely allies.

Benjamin ‘Bugsy’ Siegel is commonly credited for opening the Flamingo, but the idea to build a Miami-beach style hotel in Southern Nevada came from his one-time business partner, William R. Wilkerson.

As an already successful Los Angeles businessman throughout the 1930s and 1940s, Wilkerson founded The Hollywood Reporter and owned several nightclub hot spots on Sunset Boulevard.

He was also an avid gambler and loved playing cards. Unfortunately, Wilkerson was often as successful at losing large amounts of money as he was at running thriving businesses in Los Angeles.

So, he developed an idea for the type of gambling establishment he would want to frequent. Thus, the concept for what we know as today’s modern casino resort was born.

Wilkerson started building the resort in 1945, but by early 1946, he had run out of money for the project. This was because he had lost hundreds of thousands of dollars playing in other local casinos.

As a result, Wilkerson pulled Siegel in on the project. Siegel was a longtime bruiser for the mob who had already made a name for himself in the Las Vegas scene through horserace wire services, as well as through investments into other casinos on Fremont Street. Siegel and his associates bought two-thirds of the project and eventually forced out Wilkerson.

But as the building efforts continued, the resort project’s cost rose from around $1.2 million to an estimated $6 million by the time construction was finished.

Following its opening in late 1946, the Flamingo’s Miami Beach, Art Deco–style was a stark contrast to the trend of Old West-themed hotels in Vegas at that time. It became the first luxury resort on the Strip, setting the tone for comfort, amenities and entertainment options that remain a part of the Strip’s current identity.

Not long after its debut, the casino temporarily closed Feb. 6, 1947, and remained shut down until reopening March 1, 1947.

However, some of Siegel’s mob associates believed he had skimmed an estimated $1 million from the construction project, and they were not happy about this.

Unfortunately, Siegel met an untimely end on June 20, 1947. He was murdered in Beverly Hills by a sniper through the window of Hill’s Linden Drive mansion.

The case of his death officially remains unsolved to this day.

The Flamingo today

Caesars Entertainment currently owns and operates Flamingo Las Vegas and acquired the property in 2005. Its casino floor is home to more than 800 slot machines and more than 55 table games.

Laura Mack

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