Las Vegas Mob-Era Casino Turns Back Clock By Offering Bingo, $2 Hot Dogs

A Las Vegas casino dating back to the Mob era is offering old-fashioned bingo and low-cost food, bucking the trend toward higher prices at casinos on the Strip.

Circus Circus hotel-casino recently opened the 255-seat Lucky’s Bingo Room on the resort’s second floor, called the Promenade level. The room is opened Thursday through Sunday for five daily sessions, beginning at 1 p.m., according to the Las Vegas Review-Journal. This is the first bingo hall on the Las Vegas Strip since 2015 at the now-demolished Riviera.  

Shana Gerety, the general manager at Circus Circus, said the resort is " trying to go old school."

"We’re trying to bring Vegas back to Vegas,” Gerety said. “We’re really just trying to bring back fun.”

Deals On Food, Beverages

Also at the Circus Circus bingo hall, $2 hot dogs will be available for guests, as well as popcorn, pretzels and beverages. The throwback prices are in contrast to the higher costs on the Strip that have sparked the ire of some longtime visitors, contributing to a recent slump in tourism, according to published accounts. The latest evidence of that occurred this month, as Wynn Resorts reported what the Review-Journal called “a rare decline in net income for the fourth quarter of 2025, much of it resulting from a downturn in casino play and hotel room revenue in Las Vegas.”

The small Slots-A-Fun casino on the Circus Circus property also has reverted to lower food and beverage prices. In addition, Slots-A-Fun is offering table games with low betting minimums and coin-operated slot machines, recalling an earlier era in Las Vegas.

Vanishing Mob Era

Circus Circus was first opened in 1968 by the property’s president, Jay Sarno. During its early years, Circus Circus was affiliated with the Kansas City organized crime family. It also was the site of a gift shop operated by Tony “The Ant” Spilotro, the Chicago Outfit’s overseer in Southern Nevada during the 1970s. In the 1995 Las Vegas Mob movie “Casino,” Joe Pesci portrays a character based on Spilotro.

Decades ago, Mob associate Carl Thomas had an office at Slots-A-Fun. In the 1970s, Thomas was recorded on law enforcement surveillance audio at a Kansas City residence explaining to Mob bosses how to skim untaxed gaming revenue from Las Vegas casinos. He later was convicted of skimming, 

These days, Circus Circus and Slots-A-Fun, while no longer affiliated with organized crime, are among the few remaining properties on the Strip from the Mob era with original construction. Most have been demolished, including the Desert Inn, Riviera, Sands, Stardust, Dunes and Hacienda. In downtown Las Vegas, some properties once connected to organized crime, including the El Cortez and Fremont, are still in operation with original construction. (Although most large resorts on the Strip, including Circus Circus, are outside Las Vegas city limits, tourists and locals alike refer to downtown and the Strip as "Las Vegas.")

In 2024, the Tropicana, which opened in 1957 and also was once linked to the Mob, was demolished to make way for a Major League Baseball stadium being built as the new home of the Athletics, beginning in 2028.