1947 Club Bingo (1947-1952)
1952 Sahara - 2535 Las Vegas Boulevard South $5.5 M - Milton Prell
1959 Tower
1960 Expansion/Renovation of Casino and Restaurants (Phase IV)
1961 Merged with Del Webb Corp ($100 M Merger includes Mint
& Lucky Strike Club Plus Other Assets)
1963 Tower Addition $5 M
1967 Convention Center Addition $3 M
1977 Hi-Rise Addition $16 M
1979 Room Addition $30 M
1982 Sold to Paul & Sue Lowden for $50 M
1988 Tower Addition: 26-Story Tower
1995 Sold to William Bennett for $193 M
1996 Renovation $65 M
1999 Renovation & Speedworld Addition $100 M
Club Bingo opened on July 24, 1947 with 240 rooms on
the Los Angeles Highway across from the El Rancho Vegas. In addition to
other casino games, it featured a 300 seat bingo parlor. Milton Prell
took over in 1952, remodeled the club and opened in October of that year
as the Sahara. Called "The Jewel in the Desert" by Prell, the Sahara had
a Moroccan theme with statues of camels standing in front of the hotel.
Prell sold the Sahara to Del Webb in 1961 who
owned it for the next 21 years. During that time Webb added the tower
increasing the hotel to nearly 1,000 rooms.
In 1952 the Sahara Hotel and Casino first opened its doors to the
general public. Its original low-rise design came from Max Maltzmann and
cost owner Milton Prell of Dell Webb Corp. $5.5 million to construct. In
1959 Martin Stern, Jr. was called in to design and construct towers for
the Sahara adding 14 stories and 200 rooms to the original structure. In
1960 he added another for another 200 rooms. In 1967 he designed a
Convention Center Addition for $3 million. 1977 brought about a
high-rise addition costing $16 million and once again designed by Stern.
In 1979 Stern was back at work designing room additions for an
additional $30 million and creating 625 new rooms for the hotel. As of
1988 ownership shifted to Paul & Sue Lowden, and it was sold once again
to William Bennett for $193 million in 1995. Bennett would then renovate
the hotel and add the new Speed world based on NASCAR racing. He would
hire Bergman Walls, Ltd. for the job and pay $100 million to have his
vision become reality. The Sahara Hotel and Casino presently stands at
26 stories high and boasts 1802 rooms.
Sahara TCR# N2115 $1 New 1970s
Sahara TCR# V3348 $5 New 1970s
Sahara TCR# N7202 $25 New 1970s
Sahara TCR# N2089 $100 New 1970s
2535 Las Vegas Blvd S
2535 Las Vegas Blvd S
2535 Las Vegas Blvd S
2535 Las Vegas Blvd S
Sahara Hotel & Casino - Image Gallery
Chip scans courtesy of Ross Poppel
and Andy Hughes
Club Bingo opened on July 24, 1947 with 240 rooms on
the Los Angeles Highway across from the El Rancho Vegas. In addition to
other casino games, it featured a 300 seat bingo parlor. Milton Prell
took over in 1952, remodeled the club and opened in October of that year
as the Sahara. Called "The Jewel in the Desert" by Prell, the Sahara had
a Moroccan theme with statues of camels standing in front of the hotel.
