Caesars Palace

Jay Sarno had previously developed Cabana motor hotels in Atlanta, Dallas, and Palo Alto; the Palo Alto Cabana, opened in 1962, is regarded as a prelude to Caesars Palace. He chose a site on the Las Vegas Strip near Flamingo Road for the casino hotel, leasing the land from future resort developer Kirk Kerkorian. A pension fund handled by Teamsters officials Allen Dorfman and Jimmy Hoffa provided a $10.6 million loan for the project; working with investor Nate Jacobson, partner Jerry Zarowitz, and architect Melvin Grossman, Sarno invested a total of $24 million to build a 14-story, 680-room ancient Rome-themed hotel set back 135 feet from the Strip.⁠[1][1][1][1][1][1][1][1][1]

The hotel’s entrance was modeled on Saint Peter’s Square in Rome, and its pool on the public baths of Pompeii. Sarno said he named it “Caesars” without a possessive apostrophe because he wanted every guest to feel like “a Caesar.”⁠[2][1][1]

Caesars Palace opened on August 5, 1966, with a three-day opening celebration on which the partners spent $1 million for about 1,400 guests, who consumed 50,000 glasses of champagne. Singer Andy Williams opened the 800-seat Circus Maximus showroom, where stars such as Frank Sinatra, Cher, and Aretha Franklin went on to perform for years.⁠[1][1][1][2]

In 1967, stuntman Evel Knievel failed in an attempt to jump his motorcycle over the fountains in front of Caesars Palace and was nearly killed.⁠[1]

In 1969, amid a federal investigation into Caesars’ finances, Sarno sold the property to Clifford Perlman and Stewart Perlman for $58 million. Beginning in the late 1970s, Formula One races were held next to Caesars Palace for several years.⁠[1][1]

In May 1992, the Forum Shops at Caesars, connected to the hotel, opened as the first luxury mall in Las Vegas. As of November 2022, the mall had 160 stores and restaurants, 45 of them in the luxury category.⁠[3][3][3]

On January 25, 1995, ITT Corporation announced that its subsidiary’s cash tender offer of $67.50 per share for all outstanding common stock of Caesars World, Inc. had expired, with about 92.9% of shares on a fully diluted basis tendered, and that the merger was expected to be completed on March 2 of that year. Caesars World then operated three casino hotels in Las Vegas, Atlantic City, and Lake Tahoe, including Caesars Palace; for its fiscal year ended July 31, 1994, it had revenue of $1.0 billion and net income of $78 million.⁠[4][4][4][4][4]

In March 2003, the Colosseum, a 4,300-seat theater built for Celine Dion’s residency, opened for business. In February 2010, Billboard named it “Venue of the Decade” among venues with a capacity of 5,000 or less, based on gross box office sales for 2000–2009.⁠[5][5][5]

On June 13, 2005, Harrah’s Entertainment completed its acquisition of Caesars Entertainment, Inc. in a cash and stock transaction, issuing about 67.9 million shares of common stock and paying about $1.9 billion in cash. As of December 31, 2005, Caesars Palace was listed among Harrah’s Las Vegas properties, with about 129,000 square feet of casino space, 1,520 slot machines, 150 table games, and 3,350 rooms and suites.⁠[6][6][6][6]

In November 2010, Harrah’s Entertainment changed its name to Caesars Entertainment Corporation, with Harrah’s remaining one of its primary brands.⁠[7]

On January 15, 2015, Desert Palace, Inc., the operating entity of Caesars Palace, together with 172 affiliates, filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection in the U.S. Bankruptcy Court for the Northern District of Illinois; the cases were jointly administered under the caption In re Caesars Entertainment Operating Company, Inc.⁠[8][8]

On September 8, 2015, the U.S. Treasury Department’s Financial Crimes Enforcement Network (FinCEN) announced a settlement with Desert Palace, Inc. d/b/a Caesars Palace: Caesars Palace agreed to pay an $8 million civil money penalty for willful and repeated violations of the Bank Secrecy Act (BSA), and to undergo periodic external audits and independent testing, report to FinCEN on remediation, implement training, and conduct a look-back review of suspicious transactions.⁠[9][9]

FinCEN found that the private gaming salons Caesars Palace had set up for its wealthiest clients allowed patrons to gamble anonymously without corresponding anti-money laundering scrutiny; the casino also marketed these salons through marketing offices in the United States and abroad, particularly in Asia, but failed to adequately monitor transactions such as large wire transfers conducted through these offices. The violations were identified in a 2012 examination by the Internal Revenue Service (IRS), and FinCEN determined that they had begun on February 1, 2012.⁠[9][9][9][8][8]

Caesars Palace admitted the stated facts and that its conduct violated the Bank Secrecy Act. The bankruptcy court approved the settlement on October 19, 2015, and FinCEN signed the assessment of the penalty (Number 2015-10) on November 6, 2015.⁠[8][8][8][8]

On October 6, 2017, the real estate of Caesars Palace Las Vegas was transferred from Caesars Entertainment Operating Company (CEOC) to VICI Properties, which was formed that day, and Caesars leased and operated it under the CPLV lease, with annual rent of $165 million for the first seven years of the lease.⁠[10][10][10][10]

At that time, Caesars Palace had six hotel towers, 124,181 square feet of casino space (including more than 1,400 slot machines and gaming tables), about 300,000 square feet of meeting and banquet facilities, the 4,300-seat Colosseum, more than 20 restaurants and bars, about 702,000 square feet of retail space, and five swimming pools spanning eight acres.⁠[10][10][10][10][10]

As of December 31, 2025, Caesars Palace Las Vegas was a property leased from VICI and operated by Caesars Entertainment, Inc., covered together with Harrah’s Las Vegas by a single “Las Vegas Lease”; the property had about 124,500 square feet of casino space, 1,310 slot machines, 170 table games, and 3,980 rooms and suites. The Colosseum continued to be operated by Caesars Entertainment.⁠[11][11][11][11]

Caesars Entertainment (operator): Official website: https://www.caesars.com/corporate (opens in a new window).⁠[11]

VICI Properties (real estate owner): Official website: https://www.viciproperties.com/ (opens in a new window).⁠[10]