Although casino’s are a very popular leisure activity today, particularly online, they also did excellent business during the 1980s. Several casinos opened in the early 80s and just before, with Hugh Hefner’s Playboy Casino and the Tropicana opening in 1981. Donald Trump also opened two casinos in the 1980s and this was really a boom time for Atlantic City throughout the decade.
It is well documented that certain members of the Brat Pack lived a real party lifestyle at the peak of their success and will certainly have hit the famous gambling spots in both America and Canada when filming on location. Emilio Estevez and Judd Nelson were big money players on the tables and still enjoy a friendly game of roulette or poker to this day.
It wasn’t all about happy times for casinos during the 1980’s however as the MGM Grand Hotel and Casino suffered an horrific fire, killing 85 people. 5000 people were in the hotel and casino at the time of the fire, which was caused by an electrical ground fault. This was a huge story at the time, and newspaper sales increased with many people wanting to find out more about the disaster. The MGM was repaired and improved following the fire and sold to Bally’s Entertainment who renamed the resort Bally’s Las Vegas.
Things are a lot different now to three decades ago as the majority of players prefer to do their gambling at online casinos. That being said, 80s casino nights are popular to this day and people often put on these events at parties and even in their own homes. The 1980s is sure to be a feature somewhere in both the Las Vegas and online casino industry for the foreseeable future.
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