The Tropicana Laughlin (formerly Ramada Express and Tropicana Express) is a

casino hotel A casino hotel is an establishment consisting of a casino with temporary lodging provided in an on-premises hotel. Customers receive the benefits of both gambling facilities and lodging. Since the casino and hotel are located on the same premis ...

Laughlin, Nevada Laughlin is an unincorporated resort town and census-designated place in Clark County, Nevada, United States. It is located on the Colorado River, directly across from the much larger Bullhead City, Arizona. Laughlin lies south of Las Vegas, in ...

. It is owned by

Gaming and Leisure Properties Gaming and Leisure Properties, Inc. is a real estate investment trust (REIT) specializing in casino properties, based in Wyomissing, Pennsylvania. It was formed in November 2013 as a corporate spin-off from Penn National Gaming. The company owns ...

and operated by

Caesars Entertainment Caesars Entertainment, Inc., formerly Eldorado Resorts, Inc., is an American hotel and casino entertainment company founded and based in Reno, Nevada that operates more than 50 properties. Eldorado Resorts acquired Caesars Entertainment Corpora ...

. The hotel has 1,498 guest rooms and suites, located in the 12-story Casino Tower and the 24-story Promenade Tower. The casino has 1,050 slot machines and 21 table games. It includes the restaurants: The Steakhouse, Passaggio Italian Gardens, Carnegie's Café, Taqueria Del Rio, Poolside Café, Dips & Dogs and Victory Plaza.

History

In June 1988, the property opened under the name Ramada Express. In 1993, an expansion was completed that included the Promenade Tower, the Town Square area, additional casino space and restaurants, and a parking garage. In May 2007,

Columbia Sussex Columbia Sussex is a privately owned hotel company based in Crestview Hills, Kentucky. The company, owned by the Yung family, owns and operates hotels in various parts of the United States. The current president and founder is William J. Yung III. ...

announced that the Ramada Express would change its name to the Tropicana Express. The hotel opened as the Tropicana Express on July 28, 2007. It was later renamed as Tropicana Laughlin in 2009. In 2018, Gaming and Leisure Properties (GLP) acquired the real estate of the Tropicana and Eldorado Resorts (later Caesars Entertainment) acquired its operating business, under lease from GLP, as part of the two companies' acquisition of

Tropicana Entertainment Tropicana Entertainment Inc. was a publicly traded gaming company that owned and operated casinos and resorts in Indiana, Louisiana, Mississippi, Nevada, Missouri, New Jersey and Aruba. Tropicana properties collectively had approximately 5,500 roo ...

. In 2019, the Tropicana's buffet closed permanently.

Entertainment

The Tropicana has the Pavilion Theater, a indoor entertainment venue. It also has Tango's Lounge, which has live entertainment, the Eclipse Bar and a premium slot lounge, the Grand Junction.

Railroad

The Tropicana formerly operated a

narrow gauge A narrow-gauge railway (narrow-gauge railroad in the US) is a railway with a track gauge narrower than standard . Most narrow-gauge railways are between and . Since narrow-gauge railways are usually built with tighter curves, smaller structu ...

train in a loop on the grounds that could be ridden for free. Rolling stock consisted of open passenger cars, a locomotive replica of the Virginia and Truckee No. 12 ''Genoa'' named No. 7 ''Gambler'' powered by a diesel engine inside its tender and a

Plymouth Locomotive Works Plymouth Locomotive Works was a US builder of small railroad locomotives. All Plymouth locomotives were built in a plant in Plymouth, Ohio until 1997 when the company was purchased by Ohio Locomotive Crane and production moved to Bucyrus, Ohio ...

engine named No. 11 ''Lucky Lady'' used as a spare. The lobby and casino floor was adorned and decorated in a railroad theme with various mementos and artifacts from the historical railroad lines and companies from throughout the United States. On April 14, 2012, Tropicana Entertainment donated the rolling stock to the Las Vegas Railroad Society. All equipment was trucked from Laughlin to be stored in

Las Vegas Las Vegas (; Spanish for "The Meadows"), often known simply as Vegas, is the 25th-most populous city in the United States, the most populous city in the state of Nevada, and the county seat of Clark County. The city anchors the Las Vegas ...

. In April 2018, the rolling stock was placed on display at the Craig Ranch Regional Park in

North Las Vegas North Las Vegas is a suburban city in Clark County, Nevada, United States, in the Las Vegas Valley. As of the 2010 census it had a population of 216,961, with an estimated population of 251,974 in 2019. The city was incorporated on May 1, 19 ...

. The tracks have since been torn out and all of the railroad memorabilia removed.

References

External links

* {{Eldorado Resorts 1988 establishments in Nevada 3 ft gauge railways in the United States Casino hotels Casinos completed in 1988 Casinos in Laughlin, Nevada Caesars Entertainment Hotel buildings completed in 1988 Hotel buildings completed in 1993 Hotels established in 1988 Hotels in Laughlin, Nevada Narrow gauge railroads in Nevada