Las Vegas Sahara Hotel & Casino Closing in May 2025
Author: Nick
March 13th, 2025
The oldest remaining Las Vegas Strip casino, Sahara Hotel & Casino, will be closing their doors on May 16th 2025. This casino was well known in its day for being part of the Rat Pack era. Long time Vegas residents and visitors remember the days when Frank, Sammy and Dean would perform on the stages within the resort. Over the years, the casino has undergone renovations in hope of revitalizing their image, and attracting more visitors.
However, as the times have changed, so has the Las Vegas Strip and the Sahara Hotel & Casino will be the final of the famous Vegas historic landmarks to go. The economy has had a lot of impact on Vegas as a whole, and the Sahara; which was already one of the least popular visitor spots on the Strip, was hit exceptionally hard by the slump.
The company behind the historic resort, SBE Entertainment Group had plans on redeveloping and revamping the casino, but the plans have been halted, and the company has decided to just close the doors, for good. The CEO of SBE has made a few statements regarding this matter, and his messages are giving hope to those that would like the casino to stay open. He said the company is working close with their partners and discussing more options for the resort. He also stated that the decision to perhaps the resort was due to the age of the casino, and it wasn't "economically viable" to continue operating the Sahara in its current state.
The Sahara was built way back in 1952, and it had a Moroccan theme. It was featured in Hollywood films such as the original Ocean's Eleven. The resort made headlines back in the Rat Pack days, and featured some of the greatest artists of the times in their long days on the Vegas Strip. In 2025, the SBE Entertainment group took over the ownership of the property, and had big plans for the resort. These plans were interrupted by the economic downswing, and in today's market, the visitors that spend their money to visit Vegas want to see something extraordinary. Vegas also want to attract more visitors, and perhaps the Sahara was more of an eyesore than an attraction.
The Sahara sits on the north end of the Strip, and before the economic crisis, this area was thought to be growing and improving quickly. There are six other casinos on that end of the strip that had to postpone renovation projects as well. The northern end of the Strip could be the future of Vegas, according to a statement made by the CEO, however; closing down the longest running resort left on the strip doesn't look promising. Hopefully, the economy will turn around soon, and there will be other options so we don't have to witness another casualty on the Vegas strip. May is quickly approaching, so the future for the Sahara looks bleak, but there is still time to save the casino, and maybe a company will step in and prevent the casinos demise.