Las Vegas History Series: Castaways Hotel and Casino

From 1963 to 1987, Castaways Hotel and Casino operated on the Las Vegas Strip. Today, the land is occupied by the Mirage which is an MGM property.

Before The Castaways became a gaming establishment in that area of the Las Vegas Strip, there was a motel there by the name of San Souci Auto Court in the 1930s, which later changed its name to Sans Souci Hotel in the 1950s.

By the early 1960s when the Castaways Hotel and Casino was opened for business, reportedly one of the signature things of the resort was a bar where you could have a drink and look at a 1500 gallon aquarium tank.

During Howard Hughes buying spree of Las Vegas resorts, he would end up purchasing the casino and hotel for a reported three million dollars. It operated all through 1987 until the property would end up being demolished.

What sits there again today is The Mirage, but one of the earlier names for the property was Golden Nugget on the Strip due to Steve Wynn’s ties with the downtown property Golden Nugget. However, it became the Mirage.

Castaways centered around the Polynesian Islands as its theme. Below you can find our entire chip collection from Castaways Hotel and Casino. You can purchase each one by clicking the photo of the chip.

  

      

     

   

     

    

      

     

    

   

 

We are excited to announce we got in some quantity of the 2016 WSOP final table red decks. In the past, we only sold them in our set. If you would like to buy an individual deck, you can do so clicking the picture below:

3 comments

Harry Steininger

Harry Steininger

My father, Harry Steininger Senior was a chief engineer for the castaway hotel from 1963 to 1968

michael

michael

Did you buy it for $5?? Or less, let me think..

dale brown

dale brown

I have a $5,000. chip encased in plastic as a key chain. I was wondering if this is real or simply for novelty purposes.

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