In December 2022, the Seminole Indian Tribe-owned Hard Rock International bought the Mirage from MGM for $1.1 billion.

Steve Wynn sold his corporation to MGM in 2000 for $4.4 billion the sale included the Mirage, Treasure Island, and Bellagio in Las Vegas and Beau Rivage in Mississippi. Hard Rock will be the third owner of the property. The Mirage was available and it seemed like the perfect location. Like all major casino companies in the world, Hard Rock International wanted to be on the Strip. For Wynn, there were profit centers.īut that was 34 years ago and even the magic of erupting volcanos, white tigers, magicians, live dolphins, and $25 million suites become outdated in time. In the old model, food, beverage, rooms, and entertainment were marketing tools for the casino. Its casino floor was just an element of the resort, not the driving factor the rooms, restaurants, entertainment, and retail all contributed to the property’s cash flow and success. The Mirage changed the operations and thinking on the Strip. Other operators copied every detail, from the floor plan and suites to the fabulously successful entertainment and retail. The Mirage became the model for the next generation of hotel-casinos. It was profitable, very profitable, right from the start, so much so that it ushered in a new era in casino-resort design and management.

The Mirage did more than service its debt. Analysts and Wynn’s competitors doubted that it could generate enough revenue to service its debt people were placing bets on how many months it would take for the Mirage to fail. The price stunned everyone except Steve Wynn. The Mirage opened in Las Vegas in 1989 and at a cost of $630 million, it was at the time the most expensive casino ever built. Even the tracks of those extinct species are becoming harder to find on gambling’s most famous boulevard. Steve Wynn, Kirk Kerkorian, Bill Bennett, Clifford Pearlman, and many others have gone the way of Bugsy Siegel.

The switch from volcano to guitar is another sign of the changing of the guard on the Strip. Replacing the volcano with a guitar is a very clear statement that when the remodeled Mirage reopens as the Las Vegas Hard Rock, it will not be a Steven Wynn remake, but something entirely new. The guitar will replace the existing volcano that has been a landmark since the Mirage opened in 1989.

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