The Tropicana was conceived by Ben Jaffe, part owner of the Fontainebleau Hotel in Miami Beach. In 1955, Jaffe came to Las Vegas and bought the vacant property that would become the site of the Tropicana, planning for the Tropicana to be the finest hotel in Las Vegas. M. Tony Sherman of Miami was the architect and Taylor Construction Company was the general contractor.

After a series of owners through the years, Penn National Gaming purchased the Tropicana in 2015, before selling it to Bally’s in 2022. A year later, the Oakland Athletics baseball team reached an agreement with Bally’s to demolish the Tropicana, making way for a baseball stadium on nine acres of the site, and a new resort bearing the Bally’s name on the remaining land. The Tropicana is scheduled to close on April 2, 2024 and be demolished by the end of the year.