Flamingo Casino History: Records Behind the Bugsy Legend

Flamingo casino history begins with Billy Wilkerson, who conceived and named the project, and runs through Bugsy Siegel, whose financing pushed the cost far past its first estimate. The resort opened on December 26, 1946, at a total cost of $6 million, according to the UNLV Special Collections record. Siegel was dead by the following summer, and the legend has been growing ever since.

The contemporary record is narrower than the legend, and more useful. It names the lenders, the contractor and the sums owed.

Wilkerson's plan and the first loan

The Flamingo was Wilkerson's project before it was Siegel's. He started it with a Bank of America loan of $600,000, and the name was his as well. The UNLV archive notes that Wilkerson named the project at its inception, which sets aside the familiar story that Siegel chose the name for Virginia Hill. That story belongs to lore, not to the record.

Siegel's financing and the cost overruns

Once Siegel took over the financing, the budget stopped holding. A resort first estimated at about $1.2 million had, by some estimates, passed $6 million by March 1947. To pay for it, Siegel formed the Nevada Projects Corporation so he could sell shares of stock, and he borrowed $2.3 million from Valley National Bank in Phoenix.

The money still fell short. Del Webb Construction was the prime contractor on the job, and the Mob Museum records that Siegel had paid Del Webb no more than $1 million of the $3.6 million he owed the Arizona builder.

Opening nights and June 1947

The crowds came regardless of the debts. About 28,000 people reached the Flamingo in its first nights. On June 20, 1947, he flew from Las Vegas to Los Angeles in the early morning, and he was killed in Beverly Hills that same day.

Flamingo casino history facts: what the records show

The documented facts come down to a short list of names, dates and sums, each traceable to an archive or a researched account.

The sources do not agree on every figure. The UNLV record gives a flat $6 million total, while the Mob Museum account says more than $6 million by some estimates. The year of the later Hilton sale is also disputed, as the next section notes.

From Kerkorian to Flamingo Las Vegas

After Siegel, the Flamingo passed into corporate hands. Kirk Kerkorian acquired the property for $13 million at a time when several Strip hotel-casinos were changing owners, and it later ran under the Hilton name. The Las Vegas Advisor page and the UNLV finding aids give different years for the Hilton sale, so this account leaves the date open.

The Hilton name held until Park Place failed to renew the Hilton licensing agreement in 2000, when the property was renamed Flamingo Las Vegas.

From the reference desk

In what year was the Flamingo hotel in Las Vegas built?

The Flamingo opened on December 26, 1946. The build began under Billy Wilkerson and was finished under Bugsy Siegel, with Del Webb Construction as prime contractor.

Why is the Flamingo hotel famous?

Its tie to Bugsy Siegel is the main reason, along with a cost that climbed from about $1.2 million to more than $6 million by some estimates, and the roughly 28,000 people who came in its first nights.

Who named the Flamingo?

Billy Wilkerson did, at the project's inception. The story that Siegel named it for Virginia Hill is lore, not documented record.

Bibliography

• The Mob Museum, Wilkerson's idea, Bugsy's baby, 2016-12-19
• UNLV Special Collections and Archives, Flamingo Hotel photograph, 1955, 1955-01-07
• WeRe History (Larry Gragg), Benjamin "Bugsy" Siegel and Financing the Flamingo Hotel, 1946-1947, 2014-12-15
• Las Vegas Advisor, Flamingo Hilton, 2022-07-10