Aladdin Hotel and Casino

Opened April 1966

Closed November 25, 1997

The original Aladdin Hotel and Casino opened in April 1966, after Milton Prell transformed the earlier Kings Crown Tally Ho hotel. The site had begun as a non-gaming resort in the early 1960s. Aladdin’s new name, Arabian Nights styling and lamp-shaped signs gave it a very different identity on the Strip.

Start with its history

The original Aladdin, illustrated from a period postcard.

The history of Aladdin Hotel and Casino.

A brief history of Aladdin Hotel and Casino

An Aladdin lamp among other salvaged signs at the Neon Museum, April 30, 2013. This is museum artifact context, not the former Strip casino site.

Prell’s new Aladdin

Prell bought the hotel in January 1966 and undertook renovations before the Aladdin opening. Contemporary retrospectives describe Jackie Mason appearing in the Baghdad Theatre. The resort soon acquired a lasting place in popular memory: Elvis Presley and Priscilla Beaulieu married at the Aladdin on May 1, 1967, as Graceland’s own history records. That wedding belongs to the original resort, not the hotel tower built decades later.

The theater and tower expansion

Expansion changed the scale of the property. A new hotel tower and the Aladdin Theater for the Performing Arts opened in 1976, with Neil Diamond introducing the theater. The venue developed a life of its own as a place for concerts. Its survival would eventually connect two generations of the Aladdin site.

Changing owners and signs

The resort passed through ownership changes and financial and regulatory difficulties. Its signs changed as well. The Neon Museum distinguishes the 1966 sculptural lamp from a second, silver lamp introduced with replacement signage in 1976. Both later entered the museum’s collection. An artifact can preserve a piece of a casino’s identity after its original setting is gone.

The last concert and demolition

The hotel-casino closed in November 1997. Contemporary reporting describes its last concert night on November 25, with the hotel already closed as the audience left. Plans at that point called for a February implosion, but the actual tower demolition took place on April 27, 1998. The planned date and the event that happened should not be confused.

A rebuilt successor

A much larger Aladdin opened on the grounds in August 2000, retaining and remodeling the performing-arts theater. That later resort became Planet Hollywood in 2007. The relationship is substantial rebuilding with a surviving theater, rather than a simple rename of the original hotel. The photograph shows a salvaged Aladdin lamp at the Neon Museum in April 2013. It does not show an intact casino or locate the former Strip site at the museum.

Read the full history

Sources and context

The two generations of Aladdin

UNLV Aladdin Hotel and Casino Photograph Collection PH-00184, Historical Note: Prell’s 1966 conversion, 1976 expansion, 1998 rebuilding with theater/sign retained, new August 2000 resort and later Planet Hollywood. Institutional summary, not inspection or reuse permission for the thirteen archival photographs. Its 2003 sale wording differs from the later company filing’s completed September 2004 acquisition; the filing is selected for completion.
Tally Ho, Kings Crown and the 1966 casino

August 18, 2000 retrospective: earlier non-gaming Tally Ho, Prell’s January 1966 purchase and April Aladdin reopening, later expansion and financial/regulatory changes. Indexed body read; direct reader returned 403. Its 1963 Tally Ho date differs from the museum’s 1962; early-1960s wording retained.
Elvis and Priscilla’s wedding

Official Graceland account, April 26, 2017: Aladdin wedding May 1, 1967. Indexed article body read; direct access was blocked by robots rules, not bypassed. Does not identify a surviving wedding room in the rebuilt resort.
The two surviving lamp signs

Neon Museum, April 1, 2021: original 1966 lamp, replacement 1976 silver lamp and both in collection; changes under Yasuda. Museum account read. Its loose 1998 closure wording is not selected over contemporary November 1997 closure reporting. No current display/access guarantee.
The final concert night

Geoff Carter, November 26, 1997: previous-night Mötley Crüe concert and hotel already closed as audience left; theater to survive rebuilding. Indexed full body read. A planned February implosion is superseded by the April 1998 actual event report.
The tower’s actual implosion

Bob Shemeligian, April 28, 1998: actual previous-evening tower implosion, remaining sign and new resort plans. Indexed article body read; direct reader returned 403. Later plans in this article are not asserted as completed projects.
The surviving theater in the later resort

December 19, 2013 Caesars release: venue originally opened July 1976 as Aladdin Theater for the Performing Arts, later AXIS renovation within Planet Hollywood. Read as corroboration of surviving theater continuity, not a claim that the entire original casino survived.
The mapped site area

Representative coordinates 36.11, -115.171. UNLV and actual 1998 demolition/rebuild reporting establish the former resort grounds at the later Planet Hollywood site; rounded current mapped resort vicinity, not old building walls or a parcel survey.
The dated photograph

Peter Burka’s own-work photograph, April 30, 2013, published on Flickr and Wikimedia Commons under CC BY-SA 2.0. The silver Aladdin lamp is partly obscured among salvaged signs at the Neon Museum; this is artifact context rather than a view of the former casino.

Tally Ho’s early hotel date differs between sources: the museum gives 1962, the newspaper retrospective 1963. This profile uses early 1960s for that non-gaming stage and April 1966 for the Aladdin casino opening; no precise opening day invented.

The final November 1997 closure and April 1998 demolition are separate events. The imported 1998 closure year is not adopted.

Most of the old resort was removed; the retained theater does not make the original hotel and the 2000 rebuilt Aladdin one unchanged building.

The selected photograph is a dated museum view of a salvaged Aladdin lamp. The former casino map point remains on the Strip, not at the museum.

The former-site point is a rounded representative vicinity within the redeveloped resort grounds, not the original tower, casino-floor walls, entrance or a surveyed parcel.

This site through time

Replaced by Planet Hollywood Resort & Casino

2000

The original Aladdin closed in November 1997 and most of its buildings were removed in 1998. A rebuilt Aladdin opened on the grounds in August 2000, retaining and remodeling the performing-arts theater. That later resort became Planet Hollywood in 2007 through renovation and a name change. This is a rebuilt successor with a surviving theater, not an unchanged 1966 hotel renamed Planet Hollywood.

Historical source — UNLV PH-00184 Historical Note distinguishes original resort, 1998 demolition with retained theater/sign, August 2000 successor and 2007 Planet Hollywood name. Contemporary April 28, 1998 demolition report and August 18, 2000 actual opening report corroborate rebuilding. Caesars December 19, 2013 theater account traces the surviving venue to July 1976. Primary BH/RE 2004 filing establishes completed purchase September 1, 2004, correcting the institutional summary’s loose 2003 sale wording.

2000 is the rebuilt successor’s opening year, not the original closure or demolition date.
The theater was retained and remodeled; this does not mean the old hotel tower or entire original casino footprint survived.
A later Criss Angel Theater is distinct from the retained performing-arts venue now called PH Live.

Find the place.

Aladdin Hotel and Casino

The map identifies the property area. It does not identify an entrance or a walking route.

View the site on a map

Follow the evidence.

Sources, image credits and the limits of what we know.

Historical sources9 documents and records

The two generations of Aladdin

UNLV Aladdin Hotel and Casino Photograph Collection PH-00184, Historical Note: Prell’s 1966 conversion, 1976 expansion, 1998 rebuilding with theater/sign retained, new August 2000 resort and later Planet Hollywood. Institutional summary, not inspection or reuse permission for the thirteen archival photographs. Its 2003 sale wording differs from the later company filing’s completed September 2004 acquisition; the filing is selected for completion.
Tally Ho, Kings Crown and the 1966 casino

August 18, 2000 retrospective: earlier non-gaming Tally Ho, Prell’s January 1966 purchase and April Aladdin reopening, later expansion and financial/regulatory changes. Indexed body read; direct reader returned 403. Its 1963 Tally Ho date differs from the museum’s 1962; early-1960s wording retained.
Elvis and Priscilla’s wedding

Official Graceland account, April 26, 2017: Aladdin wedding May 1, 1967. Indexed article body read; direct access was blocked by robots rules, not bypassed. Does not identify a surviving wedding room in the rebuilt resort.
The two surviving lamp signs

Neon Museum, April 1, 2021: original 1966 lamp, replacement 1976 silver lamp and both in collection; changes under Yasuda. Museum account read. Its loose 1998 closure wording is not selected over contemporary November 1997 closure reporting. No current display/access guarantee.
The final concert night

Geoff Carter, November 26, 1997: previous-night Mötley Crüe concert and hotel already closed as audience left; theater to survive rebuilding. Indexed full body read. A planned February implosion is superseded by the April 1998 actual event report.
The tower’s actual implosion

Bob Shemeligian, April 28, 1998: actual previous-evening tower implosion, remaining sign and new resort plans. Indexed article body read; direct reader returned 403. Later plans in this article are not asserted as completed projects.
The surviving theater in the later resort

December 19, 2013 Caesars release: venue originally opened July 1976 as Aladdin Theater for the Performing Arts, later AXIS renovation within Planet Hollywood. Read as corroboration of surviving theater continuity, not a claim that the entire original casino survived.
The mapped site area

Representative coordinates 36.11, -115.171. UNLV and actual 1998 demolition/rebuild reporting establish the former resort grounds at the later Planet Hollywood site; rounded current mapped resort vicinity, not old building walls or a parcel survey.
The dated photograph

Peter Burka’s own-work photograph, April 30, 2013, published on Flickr and Wikimedia Commons under CC BY-SA 2.0. The silver Aladdin lamp is partly obscured among salvaged signs at the Neon Museum; this is artifact context rather than a view of the former casino.

What remains uncertain5 notes on context and interpretation

Tally Ho’s early hotel date differs between sources: the museum gives 1962, the newspaper retrospective 1963. This profile uses early 1960s for that non-gaming stage and April 1966 for the Aladdin casino opening; no precise opening day invented.
The final November 1997 closure and April 1998 demolition are separate events. The imported 1998 closure year is not adopted.
Most of the old resort was removed; the retained theater does not make the original hotel and the 2000 rebuilt Aladdin one unchanged building.
The selected photograph is a dated museum view of a salvaged Aladdin lamp. The former casino map point remains on the Strip, not at the museum.
The former-site point is a rounded representative vicinity within the redeveloped resort grounds, not the original tower, casino-floor walls, entrance or a surveyed parcel.

Image credits2 images with source information

The original Aladdin, illustrated from a period postcard.

Vegas Retold, AI-assisted illustration from ChipGuide postcard CG247873 / Museum of Gaming History; scan contributed by Barry Berkowitz.

Source reference: ChipGuide CG247873, scan contributed by Barry Berkowitz. Exact photograph and postcard publication dates unverified. AI-assisted illustration created 20 October 2026.

AI-assisted illustration: rendering and colours changed; postcard greeting and border removed; event lettering, vehicles and fine details simplified.

Illustration adapted from the user-selected postcard; underlying photographer and copyright status unverified. No public-domain claim or third-party licence asserted.

Image source ↗

An Aladdin lamp among other salvaged signs at the Neon Museum, April 30, 2013. This is museum artifact context, not the former Strip casino site.

Peter Burka / Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 2.0

Source reference: Peter Burka’s own-work photograph, April 30, 2013, published on Flickr and Wikimedia Commons under CC BY-SA 2.0. The silver Aladdin lamp is partly obscured among salvaged signs at the Neon Museum; this is artifact context rather than a view of the former casino.

Depicted date: 2013-04-30

License

Original source photograph retained without editorial alteration. Responsive displays may resize and crop the presentation.

Retain creator, source, licence link and changes notice. Adaptations require the same or compatible licence. Descriptive editorial context; no endorsement or current visitor-access promise.

Image source ↗

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