Casino Royale Hotel & Casino

The Best Western Plus Casino Royale[1] (formerly known as the Nob Hill Casino and Casino Royale[2]) is a casino and hotel on the Las Vegas Strip in Paradise, Nevada. The casino caters to low rollers, and features low table minimums for roulette, craps, and blackjack.

Best Western Plus Casino Royale
Front façade of casino c. 2007
Location Paradise, Nevada
Address 3411 Las Vegas Boulevard S
Opening date1978 (1978)
ThemeEuropean Villa
No. of rooms152
Total gaming space17,500 sq ft (1,630 m2)
Notable restaurantsOutback Steakhouse
Denny's
White Castle
Casino typeLand-based
OwnerTom Elardi
Previous namesNob Hill Casino
Casino Royale Hotel & Casino
Renovated in1991, 2009, 2012
Coordinates36°7′14″N 115°10′18″W
Websitecasinoroyalehotel.com

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,[3] Motor Inn Motel, Louigi's Charcoal Broiler, and Frank Musso's Restaurant.[4] In the 1960s, a Denny's restaurant was built here.[5]

What is now Casino Royale's hotel opened in the spring of 1964 as the Caravan Motor Hotel.[6][7] The 164-room establishment was developed by local construction firm Heers Bros, Inc.[7] By 1968, the hotel was affiliated with the Travelodge chain and was known as the Caravan Travelodge.[8][9]

In July 1978, the Nob Hill Casino opened between the Denny's and Travelodge.[lower-alpha 1] It was operated by a group of four partners who also owned the nearby Holiday Casino (now Harrah's), led by Claudine Williams.[10][12] 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.[13][14] The Nob Hill closed on November 26, 1990, because the lease on the property expired.[15]

Casino Royale (1992-present)

On January 1, 1992, the Nob Hill was reopened by Tommy Elardi as the Casino Royale, with 10,000 square feet (930 m2) of gaming space with 225 slot machines and 4 table games.[16] Elardi was the general manager and co-owner of the Frontier casino hotel.[17][18] Elardi purchased the casino and the hotel for $17 million.[19] From 1993 to 1995, he renovated the property, expanding the casino to 19,000 square feet (1,800 m2), adding a parking garage, and connecting the casino, hotel, and Denny's with a single facade.[19][20]

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 hotel, where workers had been on strike since September 1991.[16][21] Picketing continued until 1998, when the strike was resolved by the Elardi family's sale of the Frontier.[22][23]

In January 2013, the property was rebranded as part of the Best Western hotel chain.[1]

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.[24][25][26] 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.[27]

Gaming

The casino until recently offered 100 times odds on craps at all times. Casino Royale now offers 100 times odds only when offering a $5 minimum bet (usually weekends), and offers 20 times odds when offering a $3 minimum bet "at selected dates and times" (usually weekdays). It 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 allowed in 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. The Casino Royale was 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.[28]

  • Front of Casino at night
  • Original Casino Royale sign

References

Footnotes

  1. The county licensing board approved the Nob Hill's gaming license on June 30, 1978.[10] By July 5, the casino was being advertised as "Now Open".[11]

Citations

  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". www.library.unlv.edu. Archived from the original on 2017-10-05. Retrieved 2019-02-11.
  3. UNLV (4 November 2014). "1953 map". Archived from the original on 4 November 2014. Retrieved 4 November 2014.
  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. "To manage new motor hotel". Las Vegas Review-Journal. May 21, 1964. p. 19. The 164-room Caravan Motor Hotel, providing the latest innovations in accommodations, will open later this month.
  7. "Great Las Vegas future is anticipated". Las Vegas Review-Journal. June 28, 1964. p. 44. Recently [Heers Bros.] opened the Caravan Motor Hotel on the Strip of which they are also the landlords.
  8. "Three room burglaries investigated". Las Vegas Review-Journal. October 4, 1968. p. 2. Harry Emile Thiele, Jr. of Fergerson, Mo. told deputies $300 in cash was stolen from his wallet when someone entered his room at the Caravan Travel Lodge at 3419 Las Vegas Blvd. South while he was asleep.
  9. "Four seized in theft". Las Vegas Review-Journal. January 21, 1969. p. 2. Minutes later a man and his female companion climbed into the Western Cab of Allen Jones at Third and Fremont Streets and ordered him to drive to the Travelodge Caravan Motel, at 3419 Las Vegas Blvd. South.
  10. "DeVille casino may open". Las Vegas Review-Journal. July 1, 1978. p. 2A. In other action, the board: Approved unrestricted class "C" gaming and two tavern licenses for the Nob Hill Casino ... In the casino partnership, Claudine Barbara Noe holds 37.5 percent; William W. Morris, 25 percent; Robert L. McDonald, 25 percent; and Michael S. Williams, 12.5 percent.
  11. "Nob Hill Casino advertisement". Las Vegas Review-Journal. July 5, 1978. p. 7A.
  12. "Holiday Inns wins first OK". Las Vegas Review-Journal. AP. August 16, 1979. p. 1A. Most of the remaining 60 percent interest [in the Holiday Casino] would be held by current owner Claudine Williams ... Other current owners who would retain their interest include Las Vegas attorney William "Wildcat" Morris and Reno lawyer Robert L. McDonald.
  13. Clyde Weiss (May 12, 1983). "Lowden, Ramada get OK for stock, bond issuings". Las Vegas Review-Journal. p. 5B. Holiday Inns Inc., was given approval to own the Nob Hill Casino on the Strip. The company bought out its partners in the adjoining Holiday Casino last year on condition it also buy the Nob Hill from the same group.
  14. "Former Holiday Casino exec to buy Landmark Hotel". Las Vegas Review-Journal. July 21, 1983. p. 1B. [Bill Morris] received additional profit from the sale of the Nob Hill Casino in June.
  15. "Nob Hill Casino closes doors". Las Vegas Review-Journal. November 27, 1990. p. 6B.
  16. Jeff Burbank (January 1, 1992). "Union workers target Casino Royale". Las Vegas Review-Journal. p. 4A.
  17. Jeff Burbank (February 1, 1992). "Frontier hotel ads draw concerns". Las Vegas Review-Journal. p. 1B. Frontier hotel general manager Thomas Elardi holds a giant copy of a newspaper ad ...
  18. Jeff Burbank (January 1, 1992). "Union workers target Casino Royale". Las Vegas Review-Journal. p. 4A. Tommy Elardi is a minority owner in the Frontier and was the chief negotiator for the Elardi family during contract negotiations.
  19. "Casino Royale expands facilities". Las Vegas Review-Journal. January 16, 1995. p. 1D.
  20. John Edwards (November 14, 1993). "Tom Elardi quietly expanding Casino Royale on Strip". Las Vegas Review-Journal. p. 17E.
  21. Marian Green (April 12, 1995). "Casino Royale loses bid with NLRB to halt union's picketing". Las Vegas Review-Journal. p. 7B.
  22. Anthony Curtis (September 7, 1997). "SportsWorld joins the action". Arizona Republic – via Newspapers.com.
  23. "Nation's longest strike comes to an end". Las Vegas Sun. February 1, 1998. Retrieved 2019-08-11.
  24. Laura Carroll (January 2, 2014). "Denny's closes Strip location for reconstruction". Las Vegas Review-Journal. Retrieved 2019-08-04.
  25. Heidi Knapp Rinella (November 21, 2014). "Vegas Denny's a grand slam with diners". Las Vegas Review-Journal. Retrieved 2019-08-04.
  26. Susan Stapleton (January 3, 2014). "Nation's no. 1 Denny's reopens on the Strip". Eater Las Vegas. Retrieved 2019-08-04.
  27. Katie Visconti (January 28, 2015). "White Castle reopens after closing to restock amid huge crowds". Las Vegas Sun. Retrieved 2019-08-04.
  28. ThePOGG (27 November 2012). "ThePOGG Interviews – Geoff Hall – The creator of Blackjack Switch".
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