Dramatic Footage Shows Implosion of Famed Las Vegas Casino
It's the end of an era. After nearly 70 years, the iconic Tropicana Las Vegas was imploded early Wednesday to make way for the forthcoming Oakland Athletics stadium. But the famed hotel and casino, which closed its doors for good back in April, was given a worthy sendoff, complete with fireworks and a drone show.
According to the city's ABC affiliate, KTNV 13 News, the show got started around 2:30 a.m. with a seven-minute fireworks display put on by Fireworks by Grucci, which oversees a lot of the shows on the Las Vegas Strip. The fireworks were accompanied by 555 drones, which formed a casino chip pattern featuring the famed Tropicana logo. Finally, the 44,570 square foot building was taken down by 2,000 pounds of explosives in just 22 seconds.
The final minutes of the Tropicana were caught on video by one spectator who shared the video to social media. "Tropicana Implosion was incredible to witness in person!" the Attractions 360° X account posted. "Spectacular fireworks and drone show ended with two towers coming down."
In the video, the drones can also be seen displaying the A's logo in between the two towers, which both had fireworks shooting out of them.
Another video posted by a local Las Vegas news and happenings account showed the exact moment of implosion, and how quickly the building came down.
Due to safety restrictions, there were no public viewing areas to watch the implosion and an invite-only event was limited to about 500 spectators, USA Today reports.
However, the implosion still drew in plenty of tourists, with room rates spiking on Tuesday night. Just down the Strip, Mandalay Bay hosted a rooftop watch party, with room rates starting at $699 on Tuesday night, whereas you could book a room for less than $80 on Thursday. Other nearby hotels, including the Excalibur, Luxor and Oyo were fully booked on Tuesday night.
Construction will soon get underway for the new MLB stadium, which is scheduled to be completed in time for the 2028 season. "Let’s not think of it as an ending, but as the beginning of something even greater," said Tropicana General Manager and Vice President of Hospitality Arik Knowles on Wednesday morning.