The Mirage casino, which ushered in an era of Las Vegas Strip megaresorts in the ’90s, is closing
LAS VEGAS– The iconic Mirage hotel-casino on the Las Vegas Strip will close its doors this summer after more than 30 years, marking the end of an era for a property that helped transform Sin City into an ultra-luxury resort destination.
The July 17 closure will pave the way for major renovation and construction work on the 32-acre site, which will reopen in 2027 as the Hard Rock Las Vegas, with a guitar-shaped hotel tower almost flying up. 700 feet (about 210 meters) above the heart of the Strip.
“We would like to thank the Las Vegas community and team members for warmly welcoming Hard Rock after 34 years at The Mirage,” Jim Allen, chairman of Hard Rock International, said in a statement Wednesday announcing the closure.
It will be the second time this year that a Strip casino has closed. The Tropicana Las Vegas closed in April after 67 years to make way for a $1.5 billion baseball stadium planned as the future home of the relocating Oakland A’s.
Developed by former casino magnate Steve Wynn, the Mirage opened in 1989 with a tropical theme as the Strip’s first mega-resort, sparking a construction boom on the famed boulevard into the 1990s. The name was intended to draw attention to the hotel as an oasis in the desert.
The Volcano Fountain was one of the first sidewalk attractions, predating the Venetian canals and the dancing fountains of the Bellagio.
The Mirage was Siegfried’s home for a long time & Roy, who started performing there in 1990 and consistently drew sold-out audiences, wowing millions with their magic tricks in six shows a week, 44 weeks a year.
The show ended in 2003 after Roy Horn was attacked on stage and seriously injured by one of the act’s white tigers. The duo’s ‘Secret Garden’, an outdoor exhibit featuring big cats and other exotic animals, closed in 2022.
The hotel was also home to a popular Cirque du Soleil show set to the Beatles soundtrack, which reunited Paul McCartney and Ringo Starr for public performances for 18 years. The final curtain falls in July.
Hard Rock International said Wednesday that more than 3,000 employees will be laid off and expects to pay $80 million in severance payments.
The Culinary Workers Union, which has represented about 1,700 workers at the Mirage since it opened, said in a statement that the contract it won last year will see laid-off workers paid $2,000 for each year of service. The contract also gives them the opportunity to be called back to work and maintain their seniority when the hotel reopens.
“Culinary Union will continue to ensure employees are protected and centered in the future of the property,” the statement said.
The Mirage became the first Strip property run by a Native American tribe in 2022 after Hard Rock International, owned by the Seminole Tribe of Florida, bought it from MGM Resorts in an all-cash deal worth nearly $1.1 billion .
Hard Rock said at the time that the property would remain open and operate under the Mirage brand for several years while it finalized renovation plans.
The Mirage will not accept bookings after July 14 and says all bookings made after that date will be canceled and refunded.