As We See It

[The Incidental Tourist]

The renovating Casino Royale is a sliver of independence (and affordability) on the Strip

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Size doesn’t matter: Casino Royale is one of the Strip’s true anomalies—and soon it’ll be home to a White Castle.
Photo: Corlene Byrd

The smallest casino on the Las Vegas Strip has been in the news lately, but not because of its size, or the fact that it’s one of few properties on the Boulevard not owned by a huge gaming company, or its long and interesting ownership history.

It’s because of White Castle. The iconic East Coast slider restaurant chain is finally coming to Las Vegas, part of a renovation project at the northern end of the tiny Casino Royale.

Though White Castle isn’t named on the construction site banners touting the new Walgreens store and expanded Denny’s restaurant, those baby burgers are definitely coming. The Las Vegas Review-Journal reported last month that the Vegas version of White Castle will be a licensing agreement—similar to the way many celebrity-chef restaurants are operated, but different from the more than 400 White Castle restaurants in a dozen states—between White Castle and locals Troy Herbst and Rob Richardson, friends of the casino’s owners, the Elardi family.

The slider spot, the drugstore and a new two-story space for what is reputedly the highest-grossing Denny’s in the country were set to open around the first of the year; construction is about a month ahead of schedule.

Casino Royale is a unique place. It’s actually the Best Western Plus Casino Royale, since the huge hotel chain took over operations in late 2012. It has 152 hotel rooms, and the casino’s just 30,000 square feet, known best for slot promotions and $1 Michelobs. It’s the kind of place where a $1.99 foot-long hot dog outshines Cinnabon as the star of the food court. You may have passed right by it without knowing, unless you stopped to get a giant frozen piña colada from the Strip-side Fat Tuesday bar.

The original building opened in 1964 as a restaurant, and has been a nightclub and various casinos throughout the years before becoming Casino Royale in 1992. Best Western is running the show today, but Tom Elardi, a former manager of the Frontier, maintains ownership of the land and the gaming license.

Family matriarch Margaret Elardi’s contributions to Las Vegas’ colorful history include refusing to sell the Jockey Club to Steve Wynn when Bellagio was in its developmental stages. (Incredibly, the Jockey Club, a timeshare resort, still exists, barely noticeable sandwiched between Bellagio and Cosmopolitan.)

According to a 1999 Forbes article, Elardi retired from LA to Las Vegas in the ’60s and then came out of retirement, operating Downtown’s Pioneer Club from 1967 to 1983. She bought a casino in Laughlin in ’81 and renamed it the Pioneer, then sold the property seven years later and turned her attention to the Frontier on the Strip, where in 1989 she forced the infamous six-year culinary workers strike, which finally concluded when the Frontier was sold to Phil Ruffin.

The “never sell out” attitude that prolonged the Jockey Club and the Frontier seems to stick to Casino Royale, too. It’s a tiny island on the Boulevard; the lone independent property that separates the sprawling empires of Las Vegas Sands and Caesars Entertainment; a refuge for the Vegas visitor who only wants to spend a few bucks on beers while gambling and is perfectly happy eating dinner at Outback Steakhouse and dessert from Ben & Jerry’s.

Think how happy that guy will be when he can grab a sixer of White Castle sliders, too.

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Brock Radke

Brock Radke is an award-winning writer and columnist who currently occupies the role of editor-at-large at Las Vegas Weekly magazine. ...

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