What is The Oldest Casino in Las Vegas? Golden Gate and The Buried Life

Posted on January 14th, 2013

OK, it’s Trivia time. We know what the biggest  casino in Las Vegas is (depending on how you measure it, it;s the MGM Grand or The Venetian), but what about the Oldest casino in Las Vegas?

Buildings are being continually ripped down in this town. Surely there must be some heritage?!

What Is The Oldest Casino In Las Vegas?

Las Vegas has been kicking around since the turn of the 20th Century (since around 1905, which is not that long, if you think about it).

But that still means that there is over a century of history there, and what the city lacks in time, it makes up in terms of characters and notoriety. Gambling really took off in the desert in the thirties, when gambling was legalised (ir re-legalised), and it was the 40s and 50s when it really started to motor.

There is one casino in this town that has been standing since 1906,and that’s the famous Golden Gate Casino: offically Las Vegas’ oldest casino.

The Golden Gate Casino was known origianally as the Hotel Nevada back in 1906, where a room cost a buck a day (proces have gone up since). But, there was no a/c! A company from San Francisco later bought the casino and hotel and The Golden Gate Casino was born.

You’ll still find it on Fremont Street.

The Buried Life $250,000 Roulette Bet

The Buried Life makes the biggest roulette spin in Vegas history from Duncan Penn on Vimeo.

The casino gained some useful publicity in recent years thanks to the MTV hit reality show, “The Buried Life.”

“The Buried Life” is a show about four kids who have a ‘To Do list’ of 100 things they want to do before they die. Number 75 on the list was to try and win $1 million at a casino.

The boys put $125 grand on an even money roulette bet and parlayed it 3 times (rolled it over, ie bet +winnings). They ended up making the biggest roulette bet in Las Vegas history, which up to that point had been $220,000. And this all played out at the Golden Gate Casino.

Do you want to know how it panned out?

Well, they bet $125,000, and won so had $250,000. Then they made a $250,000 bet and….lost. The casino manager gave them $50,000 towards a charity of their choice and one of The Buried Life guys, Duncan managed to save $50,000. They donated the $100,000 to a charity Nicaragua.

The losing bet? Black. Downer. Watch the video above, to see their reaction after winning $125,000 on the first bet. And then, there’s a big debate as to whether they should bet red, or black on the second spins. Someone is saying red, red, red. Eventually they bet on black. Nooooooooooo! Listen to the dealer next time boys! “You Can Let It Ride….”

Related Posts

Do you know your gambling trivia?

OK- so you call yourself a casino expert and you love playing games online. But did you know the following? The Romans loved games of chance and made dice out of sheep’s knuckles. The oldest dice known to man...

Atlantic City Smoking Ban

Atlantic City’s in new Jersey, USA casino smoking ban has seriously affected revenues, much like the smoking ban in the UK affected bingo hall revenues. The winner from all of this? Online casino sites and online bingo sites who...

Let it Snow, Let it Snow, Let it Snow. Make a Snow Bet!

While the Aussies are sweltering, the UK is under inches of snow. Today is being seen as “round two” and UK plc is on the ropes after yesterday´s performance in the first round! The UK continues to struggle on...