The resort was built on property once occupied by the Tumbleweed motel, built in 1946; and the Pyramids motel, built in 1952. The Pyramids, a 20-unit motel, was the first project for Las Vegas real estate developer
Irwin Molasky. The Tumbleweed would later become the Sand Dunes, and was destroyed in a 1968 fire.
Holiday Inn and Holiday Casino (1973–1992) In March 1969, plans were announced for a riverboat-themed casino to be built on the property. Holiday Queen Land Corporation would develop it and the project would include a hotel in partnership with
Holiday Inn. Holiday Queen would own the casino and Holiday Inn would operate the hotel under its eponymous brand. Groundbreaking took place on April 2, 1970. The 520-room hotel opened on February 1, 1972, as the Holiday Inn Center Strip, named for its location at the center of the
Las Vegas Strip. It consisted of a 14-story tower. The adjacent Pyramids motel was purchased later that year for $750,000, and was demolished to provide additional parking space. During construction, the gaming portion was known as the River Queen Casino. It opened as the Holiday Casino on July 2, 1973. It included 320 slot machines and 20 table games, and catered to a middle-class clientele. Williams served as the casino's president and board chairman. He and his wife Claudine Williams had previously owned the
Silver Slipper casino in the 1960s. Shelby Williams died in 1977, at the age of 66, after a lengthy illness. Claudine Williams took over operations, a rarity in the Nevada gaming industry, which generally consisted of men. In 1979, Holiday Inn bought a 40 percent share of the casino's parent company, Riverboat, Inc, and Claudine Williams retained the other 60 percent. In 1980, construction began on a 23-story tower addition with 494 rooms. It was finished in 1981, and the hotel became the world's largest Holiday Inn, with 991 rooms. Holiday Inn bought out Williams's remaining 60-percent interest in 1983. She remained as chairwoman of the property for years after the sale. During the groundbreaking ceremony, outdated gaming chips from the Holiday Casino – totaling $380,000 – were dumped into the addition's cement foundation by executives. A spokeswoman said the chips would add "color and history" to the new structure, which was built by
Marnell Corrao Associates. Aside from adding casino space, the addition also included a new showroom. The hotel rooms also were renovated. The casino also was expanded by , for a total of . Ten years later, Holiday Inn's eponymous hotel brand was sold to
Bass PLC. A corporate spinoff,
The Promus Companies, was created by Holiday Inn to oversee several brands not included in the sale to Bass PLC, including Harrah's. In October 1991, Promus announced that it would end its franchise agreement with Holiday Inn and rename the Las Vegas property under its Harrah's brand. The name change was finalized in April 1992. An early morning robbery occurred in April 1994, when four young men entered Harrah's and robbed the casino cage at gunpoint. A fifth man operated the getaway vehicle for the group, which consisted of Los Angeles gang members. They were apprehended after a 20-minute police chase, and were sentenced to prison. Two other men who planned out the robbery were also sentenced. The stolen money, approximately $100,000, was never recovered. In total, the casino was expanded by , and a 35-story addition was made to the third tower, among other changes. while final touches were concluded later that year. In September 2000, two men were suspected of stealing from distracted gamblers in the casino. When approached by security guards, one of the men fled before guards took him down. During the struggle, he pulled out a gun and fired two shots, one injuring a guard and the other killing a 29-year-old woman. Both men were soon apprehended. In September 2007,
Clark County building officials opened an investigation into unauthorized renovations that took place at the
Rio, another Las Vegas resort owned by Harrah's Entertainment. In October 2007, Harrah's Entertainment closed approximately 600 rooms at Harrah's Las Vegas, allowing for investigative work and possible remediation. Various fire safety hazards were uncovered, including some floors which lacked caulking, a material used to prevent smoke from spreading. The hotel reopened 501 rooms a month later, while another 166 continued to be brought up to code. The resort's chief engineer faced several misdemeanor citations, and Harrah's Entertainment closed a remodeling subsidiary which oversaw the unauthorized work. The charges were eventually dismissed. Harrah's Entertainment was renamed Caesars Entertainment in 2010. A $25 million renovation of the casino floor took place in 2015, adding new flooring, furniture, and slot machines. The sale was completed the following month. A renovation of the 1,622-room Valley Tower was completed in 2018, at a cost of $140 million. It was the tower's first renovation in more than a decade. Renovations on the rest of the hotel concluded in 2020, as part of a $200 million, multi-year renovation, which was finished in June 2021. The project included renovations on the casino floor, and new purple neon signage on the resort's exterior. A sky bridge was also built to connect Harrah's to the new
Caesars Forum convention facility. ==Features==