Venue History
Opened in the mid-1970s, the Ambassador Casino began its life as the gaming component of the adjacent Ambassador Inn, located at 377 East Flamingo Road, just east of the famous Las Vegas Strip. While the hotel portion dated back farther (the “Ambassador Inn” hotel opened in 1974) the casino itself was added in 1978. The casino aimed to seize a niche in Las Vegas’s evolving gaming landscape: modest in size, located just off the Strip, and offering a more approachable atmosphere than the mega-resorts dominating the Boulevard. Despite its promising start, the Ambassador Casino faced significant headwinds. In June 1982, the property filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy, citing a weak local economy and declining tourism as major contributors. It officially closed on September 7, 1982. At that time it operated with roughly 140 slot machines, six blackjack tables, one craps table, and employed about 80 people. After its closure, the property underwent several transformations and re-brandings. It reopened in January 1986 as the La Mirage Casino under new ownership. Later, the hotel changed to the Quality Inn chain and the casino became known as Anthony’s Casino, before eventually becoming the Key Largo Hotel & Casino in August 1997. Though the original Ambassador Casino operated for only a few years, it remains significant as a snapshot of a transitional era in Las Vegas gaming: smaller properties operating in the shadows of the growing Strip super-resorts, attempting to carve out sustainable niches in a rapidly evolving market. Its story reflects the broader ebb and flow of downtown and off-Strip gaming, reminding us that not every property could match the scale and momentum of the big players. In sum, the Ambassador Casino may not have left a lasting architectural legacy, but it serves as a meaningful case study in Las Vegas’s dynamic history of reinvention and competition.
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