The iconic Mirage in Las Vegas is closing today after 34 years

The Mirage Hotel and Casino on the Las Vegas Strip is closing Wednesday, ending 34 years in business. The resort will throw a farewell event, with doors officially closing this afternoon. That will cap off a weeklong event, in which gamblers were given the opportunity to win part of a $1.6 million cash prize in accordance with Nevada state law. The hotel announced in May it would be closing. Following its closure, the 3,000-room resort will undergo a three-year renovation that will wipe away any markings of the Mirage and its tropical theme. It will reopen in 2027 as Hard Rock Las Vegas, with a soaring 700-foot-tall hotel tower in the shape of a guitar, similar to its Florida property. The volcano will be destroyed to make space for new rooms. Opened in 1989 by casino mogul Steve Wynn, the Mirage ushered in a era of luxe resorts for the Strip and was the first resort to have a sidewalk attraction – the volcano. That prompted the Bellagio and Venetian to imitate the Mirage with its dancing fountains and canals. Architects told CNN affiliate KSNV-TV that the tropical design created by Wynn was meant to resemble an oasis in the chaotic Las Vegas Strip. “Nowhere in Las Vegas before you would walk in and there would be craps tables there or there would be a small lobby and then there would be a casino but in this particular facility we said ‘no you are not in a casino you are in this beautiful tropical engineered place that made you feel good about yourself’ and that is what it was for so many years,” Mirage architect Paul Steelman told the NBC station.
Beyond its exploding volcano, visitors likely best know the Mirage best for hosting other quintessential Las Vegas features like the Siegfried and Roy’s white tigers show and a Cirque du Soleil show set to Beatles music. MGM Resorts bought the Mirage from Wynn in 2000 and sold it in 2022 for more than $1 billion to Hard Rock International. It’s the second time Hard Rock will have a presence in Las Vegas, with the brand previously owning the now-Virgin Hotel off the Strip.