Horseshoe Las Vegas carries several layers of Strip history. It began as Kirk Kerkorian’s original MGM Grand in December 1973, became Bally’s in 1986 and adopted the Horseshoe name in 2022. These are successive identities of this resort. The MGM Grand opened farther south in 1993 and Downtown’s Binion’s Horseshoe are separate properties.
The original MGM Grand
The original MGM Grand was designed by Martin Stern Jr. as a large hotel and entertainment complex. Its scale belonged to the same ambition that had produced Kerkorian’s International Hotel: gambling, rooms and major performances brought together in one destination. Contemporary reporting recalls Dean Martin appearing at its first opening and returning for the resort’s reopening in 1981.
The 1980 fire and reopening
The intervening disaster is central to the history. On November 21, 1980, a fire spread from the casino-level Deli through the ground-floor complex, while smoke reached the hotel tower. The revised NFPA investigation records 85 deaths, including a victim who died weeks later. The building had some sprinklers, but the casino and Deli were not protected. Clark County’s fire department connects the disaster and the subsequent Hilton fire with major changes to hotel fire protection. The resort reopened in July 1981.
Bally’s becomes Horseshoe
Bally Manufacturing’s 1986 purchase brought the Bally’s name. The property continued to evolve rather than becoming a wholly new resort each time its signs changed. In 2022, the World Series of Poker moved from the Rio to the neighboring Bally’s and Paris properties. The Horseshoe rebrand took effect that December; the operator’s ceremonial grand opening followed on March 24, 2023. The brand’s Downtown origins do not mean that Binion’s building moved to the Strip.
One tower joins Paris
A later change crossed the boundary between the adjoining resorts. Caesars announced in May 2023 that Horseshoe’s Jubilee Tower would be renovated and incorporated into Paris as Versailles Tower. Renovated rooms were being offered by August 2024. This was the reassignment and remodeling of part of the complex, while Horseshoe continued as a separate casino and hotel.
The property and history photograph today
The operator’s October 2026 fact sheet confirms Horseshoe at 3645 South Las Vegas Boulevard. The history photograph shows the Bally’s-era towers and Grand Bazaar Shops in April 2018, before either the Horseshoe rebrand or the Paris tower conversion. It should not be read as a record of current signs or current room allocation.