The Flamingo Opens in Las Vegas: December 26, 1946

The Flamingo opened in Las Vegas on December 26, 1946, a story often credited to the gangster Benjamin “Bugsy” Siegel alone. The record is more complicated. The idea, the name and the first construction came from Billy Wilkerson, a Hollywood publisher, and Siegel took the project over in 1946 and finished the casino. The opening was clouded by rain and an unfinished hotel, the casino lost money, and Siegel closed the resort on February 6, 1947. The resort reopened on March 1, 1947, and Siegel was shot dead in Beverly Hills on June 20, 1947, a killing that remains unsolved. Sources disagree on costs, attendance and whether the opening was a failure; this article marks each conflict.

Las Vegas in 1946 and Billy Wilkerson’s Idea

According to The Mob Museum, Las Vegas began as a railroad town in 1905 and grew quickly in the early 1930s with Hoover Dam and the statewide legalization of gambling. Two war-era projects, an Army air base and a magnesium plant, then brought thousands of people to the valley. The El Rancho Vegas opened on Highway 91 in 1941 and the Hotel Last Frontier in 1942, the first two resorts on what became the Strip, both with Old West themes.

The Flamingo began with Billy Wilkerson, publisher of The Hollywood Reporter and owner of stylish Los Angeles restaurants and nightclubs. The Mob Museum displays a check he wrote for $9,500 on March 5, 1945, as a down payment on land; he paid $84,000 in total for a 33-acre parcel and began building in late 1945. The same museum describes him as a compulsive gambler who lost hundreds of thousands of dollars at Las Vegas casinos while the project was under way.

Wilkerson looked for partners. Online Nevada Encyclopedia says Siegel, Meyer Lansky, Harry Rothberg, Gus Greenbaum and Moe Sedway bought into the project, using profits from the El Cortez casino. Siegel was by then a figure of the underworld, receiving monthly payments from bookmakers for a wire service that carried horse racing results, according to the same encyclopedia.

Siegel Takes Over: Money, Materials and Cost Overruns

Online Nevada Encyclopedia says that at first Siegel joined the more experienced Wilkerson as a representative of the new partners. In time Siegel resented Wilkerson’s role, and, with Lansky’s blessing, forced Wilkerson to give up control and remain a shareholder. Siegel named himself president of the Nevada Projects Corporation in June 1946. The Mob Museum adds that he took over in part through physical threats against Wilkerson.

The encyclopedia says materials were scarce after the war and that Siegel bought wood and pipe on the black market. It says he ordered costly changes, including separate sewer lines for each bathroom, and those changes produced overruns of more than $1 million.

The financing is one of the most disputed parts of the story. Gragg lists a $600,000 Bank of America loan, $2.3 million from Valley National Bank in Phoenix, $1 million from Rothberg, more than $500,000 from selling Nevada Projects Corporation stock, $200,000 from Howard Hughes and $160,000 in profit from selling the El Cortez in July 1946. Siegel then visited Frank Costello in New York in October 1946, and according to Costello’s attorney, Costello and others invested over $1 million. Gragg concludes that most of the money seemed to come from legitimate-looking sources, though likely as cover.

On cost, the figures conflict. Online Nevada Encyclopedia says building and start-up costs had reached $4 million by the time Siegel closed the resort. Gragg, The Mob Museum and an Associated Press retrospective put the final figure at $6 million. The Mob Museum says an early estimate of about $1.2 million rose, by some estimates, past $6 million by March 1947, while Las Vegas Sun reporters, drawing on Ed Reid and Ovid Demaris, say Siegel’s $1 million estimate ended up six times too low.

Opening Night, December 26, 1946

The casino opened on the evening of December 26, 1946. The Mob Museum says the showroom was booked with Jimmy Durante and band leader Xavier Cugat, and that Siegel advertised “Dress Optional at Anytime. Come as You Are.” to reassure local residents. It describes the first of three opening nights, with the third, on December 28, aimed at Hollywood.

Rain disrupted the plan. Online Nevada Encyclopedia says a rainstorm discouraged air travel and left most of the Hollywood guests grounded in California. The encyclopedia names actors George Raft, George Sanders, Sonny Tufts and George Jessel among those present. The Mob Museum adds Eleanor Parker and Vivian Blaine and says Lucille Ball, William Holden and Veronica Lake, though invited, did not come.

The hotel itself was not ready. The Las Vegas Sun, citing Steve Fischer’s book When the Mob Ran Vegas, says none of the roughly 90 rooms could be used because workers were still installing the individual sewer systems, so visitors stayed at the El Rancho Vegas or the Frontier. Accounts of the rooms differ and are covered below.

Inside, the Mob Museum describes green leather walls, thick carpeting and rows of slot machines, with trees and landscaping outside.

Turning Points: Losses, Closure and Reopening

The first turning point was the casino’s luck. The Mob Museum quotes Gragg: “Bad luck largely explained the losses,” and “For several nights many gamblers captured big wins.” Estimates of the losses differ. Online Nevada Encyclopedia says about $300,000 in the first two weeks, the Mob Museum says the Flamingo was said to have lost upwards of $500,000 over several days, and the Sun says nearly $700,000.

The second was the closure. The Mob Museum says that by late January Siegel decided to close temporarily and ran a newspaper advertisement saying the Flamingo would shut from February 6 to March 1. The casino closed on February 6, 1947, according to both the Mob Museum and the Sun.

The third was the reopening. The Sun reports that on March 1, 1947 the resort reopened as the Fabulous Flamingo, with the Andrews Sisters opening the front doors. The Mob Museum says it had about 100 guest rooms available. Business then improved: by late March revenues were higher, and by May, Online Nevada Encyclopedia and the Mob Museum both report, the casino showed a profit of $300,000.

Aftermath: Siegel’s Death and the Flamingo’s Legacy

On June 20, 1947, Siegel was shot while sitting on a couch in a Beverly Hills house he rented with Virginia Hill. The Mob Museum says a gunman fired a .30-caliber carbine through a window and hit him four times; Online Nevada Encyclopedia says nine rifle shots. No arrests followed. The Mob Museum says the case remains unsolved with the Beverly Hills Police Department and that investigations found multiple motives. It also says Siegel was never convicted of murder.

Control of the Flamingo changed within minutes. The Mob Museum says Gus Greenbaum and Morris Rosen announced to staff that they were taking over; the encyclopedia names Sedway, Greenbaum and Rosen; the Sun names Sedway, Greenbaum and David Berman. According to the encyclopedia, a group raised $3.9 million to buy the property from the Nevada Projects Corporation, and the resort reported a $4 million profit in Greenbaum’s first year.

Wilkerson was bought out: the Mob Museum holds a document in which Siegel promised him $600,000, half of which he received before Siegel’s death.

The Mob Museum says the Flamingo’s European-style casino and Miami-inspired look eclipsed the Western-themed hotels of the 1940s and set a new standard of luxury.

Myths, Disputes and the Other Side

The biggest myth is that Siegel invented Las Vegas. The Mob Museum calls the idea a myth, noting the town’s earlier growth, and says he did not even invent the Flamingo. Online Nevada Encyclopedia calls the opening a flop and the Sun a disaster, while Gragg describes a spectacular opening before a packed house.

Attendance figures cannot be reconciled. The Mob Museum cites 28,000 people over the first nights; Fischer, via the Sun, says Durante played to fewer than 80 people. Room counts also differ: 90, 93, 100 and 105 appear. The Sun’s 65 days open equals the span from December 26 to March 1, which includes the closure; December 26 to February 6 is 42 days.

A popular story says Siegel named the hotel for Virginia Hill. Smithsonian Magazine calls this a long-standing rumor and says Wilkerson had envisioned the name much earlier. Gragg also challenges the idea that mob money alone built the Flamingo, citing FBI files among his sources, that it supplied seed money for a project bankers thought too risky.

The other side of the story is the cost: Wilkerson’s gambling debts drove him to outside investors.

Flamingo Timeline

Related Stories

Las Vegas in 1946 sat between older casino traditions and newer ones. The Flamingo’s slot machines belong to a longer story told in the history of slot machines, and its roulette wheels and craps tables trace back to the history of roulette and the history of dice. Another dated landmark in gambling’s past is the 1919 Black Sox scandal, and the Las Vegas casino floor met a mathematician’s challenge in the profile of Edward O. Thorp.

Sources & References

• Jackie Apoyan — Wilkerson’s idea, Bugsy’s baby, The Mob Museum (2016)
• Jackie Apoyan — As the 75th anniversary of the Flamingo Hotel approaches, The Mob Museum (2021)
• Jeff Burbank — Bugsy Siegel and the Flamingo Hotel, Online Nevada Encyclopedia (Nevada Humanities)
• Larry Gragg — Benjamin “Bugsy” Siegel and Financing the Flamingo Hotel, 1946-1947, We’re History (2014)
• Ed Koch and Mary Manning — Mob Ties, Las Vegas Sun (May 15, 2008)
• Kat Eschner — The Stylish Flamingo Hotel Shaped the Las Vegas Strip, Smithsonian Magazine (2017)
• Robert Macy (Associated Press) — Hotel That Bugsy Built Celebrates Its 50th, Los Angeles Times (1997)