Sure these temples to excess represent a home to basically every single amenity under the sun. And in most cases, gaming doesn’t even account for half a property’s revenue anymore.

But that wasn’t the way it always was. In fact, according to the UNLV Center for Gaming Research casino resorts have gone through four distinct phases of evolution in the modern era beginning in 1941.

The history of the casino resort began when the El Rancho Vegas first appeared in the Las Vegas desert in 1941. It was the first insular, self-contained casino resort built on the Los Angeles Highway, which would eventually become the Las Vegas Strip.

Built in the style of the low-rise motels of its day, the buildings all surrounded a main casino/theater/restaurant structure. They were usually about 200-800 rooms in size and surrounded by spacious grounds, swimming pools, and surface parking lots. In this period, casino design was secondary to personalities—celebrities, casino executives—who gave the casino a public persona.

The next generation of casino design started with the Riviera when it opened in 1955. and continued with properties such as the International (now Hilton), which made its debut in 1969. Casinos of this era were typified by a 1,500-room plus hotel tower integrated with a vast, low-rise building containing casino, restaurants, lounges, theaters, convention facilities, and restaurants. Surrounded by grounds, swimming pools integrated into resort complex, surface lots. Visitors are assumed to valet or park, not walk, to casino

 
With adaptations (500-1000 room hotel towers, parking garages), second generation resorts dominated Atlantic City until 2003; It started with Resorts International (converted existing hotel, 1978) and reaching a zenith with Trump Taj Mahal in 1990. Another variant, with small hotel towers but expanded ancillary amenities such as bowling alleys and movie theaters, becomes popular in Las Vegas as neighborhood casinos geared towards locals. That trend started with Sam’s Town in 1979 and continued with casinos by Coast Casinos and Station Casinos. In riverboat jurisdictions, non-sailing casino barges have been linked with ground-based hotel/restaurant buildings to create another variant of the casinos generation casino resort.
Generally, most Indian casinos are based on the second generation model with significant adaptations, including a greater emphasis on the casino at the expense of dining and entertainment.

The third generation casino started with the first property that would be considered a mega resort, Mirage in 1989. The design here was an updated version of the second generation style, often repeating the characteristic Y-shape pioneered by the International. Here an integrated large hotel tower of 3,000 or more rooms is attached to a vast, low-rise building containing casino, restaurants, lounges, theaters, convention facilities, and restaurants. Parking garages and spa areas are integrated into the overall design. Unlike second generation resorts, there is an emphasis on Strip frontage and pedestrian access to the casino. Sometimes these resorts use flashy Strip-front displays to attract walk-ins. Overall, the third generation is marked by a greater emphasis on non-gaming aspects of resort, particularly entertainment, retail, dining, and nightclubs.
To date, the Borgata in Atlantic City is the first genuine 3rd generation casino outside of Las Vegas.

The newest fourth generation trend is still in its nascent stages, according to the Center for Gaming Research. Developing now, with Wynn Las Vegas in 2005 and continuing with residences at MGM Grand, this design mixes the third generation style, but built with an assumption that non-gaming elements will be equal—or greater than—the casino. In the case of Wynn Las Vegas that property to the original first generation concept of resorts as inward-looking. MGM Grand, however, with the construction of condo towers on-site, illustrates the coming trend towards incorporating timeshare, secondary, and primary residential components into the casino resort. Instead of the casino coming to the neighborhood, the neighborhood comes to the casino.

New properties rising on the Strip right now are characterized by these elements include MGM CityCenter and Echelon Place.

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