Fremont

The Fremont casino hotel has been packing ’em in since 1956, when it opened as downtown’s first high-rise and the tallest building in Nevada. Separating it from the motley pack was wall-to-wall carpeting –almost all of the other nearby casinos still had sawdust floors then. It was here that legendary lounge singer Wayne Newton (aka Mr Las Vegas) launched his career. Despite these firsts, the Fremont has since slipped into mediocrity these days. With its weak tropical motif, the 32,000-sq-ft casino is nothing special, except for its purple felt tables and location in the middle of the Fremont Street Experience which has made it a favorite with many gamblers, not to mention film buffs for its covert role in the movie Swingers. Like its sister casino hotel, the Cal, it welcomes planeloads of travelers from Hawaii. Slip upstairs to Second Street Grill for Pacific Rim seafood.