Dunes, Las Vegas – $1000 vintage casino chip, 16th Edition
History of the Dunes Casino, Las Vegas
Dunes Hotel & Country Club
Without a doubt, one of Las Vegas’s most iconic casinos, a favourite haunt of the ‘rat pack’ led by the one and only Frank Sinatra.
The Dunes opened on May 23, 1955 at 3650 Las Vegas Blvd. S with a 30-foot fiberglass Sultan standing above the entrance to welcome customers.
The original owners were Alfred Gottesman, a movie tycoon: Joe Sullivan, a restaurateur from Providence, Rhode Island: and Bob Rice, a Beverly Hills costume jewelry maker.
The casino lost money and was closed after one year. Jake Gottlieb bought the property and hired Major A. Riddle, an Indiana trucking company owner, to run the Dunes in 1957.
Riddle booked “Minsky’s Follies,” the first bare bosom stage show in Nevada. The show was a big hit, with a four-and-a-half-year run, drawing a record 16.000 customers in one week.
The Dunes 18-hole Golf Course opened in 1961 and the 24-story tower was added in 1965. Japanese millionaire Masao Nangaku purchased the Dunes in 1988.
The Dunes changed hands again in January 1993 when Steve Wynn purchased the property and closed it down.