Tropicana’s Cashing In Its Chips, Here’s How You Can, Too

By Scott Roeben, on March 18 2024
4 min read 5 comments
Las Vegas Las Vegas Hotels

Tropicana will soon cash in its chips, closing on April 2, 2024. You have until July 31, 2024 to do the same. Not metaphorically, that’s awkward.

Tropicana recently released information about how players can cash in their outstanding chips and other news related to the closing.

We’ve got all the relevant details. And some irrelevant ones. Do you know this blog at all?

Stop by and kiss the Trop goodbye. Bring mouthwash.

Tropicana opened on April 4, 1957, and has been a drama-fueled mess in recent years.

We’re pretty sure Trop is the only Las Vegas resort where one of its headliners, Jan Rouven, was arrested and imprisoned for distributing child porn.

We could regale you with a long, nuanced history of the Tropicana, but that would involve “research” or at least “extensive copying and pasting,” and we are very busy and important, so we’ll save that for a post-mortem.

Here’s the chip redemption thing, though.

Tropicana will discontinue issuing chips beginning April 2, 2024. You can redeem previously-issued chips at the casino cage until Trop closes, then you can redeem them at Oyo Las Vegas through July 31, 2024.

No wonder we were rambling, this story is a little thin on actual useful information.

If you accidentally left town with a Trop slot ticket (TITO voucher), here’s what Tropicana says about redeeming those after the casino shutters: “Tropicana Las Vegas slot wagering vouchers may be redeemed by the expiration date printed on the slot wagering voucher by mailing them to 3801 Las Vegas Blvd South, Las Vegas, NV 89109. Patrons must provide a copy of their identification card if the patron does not have a player’s account with Tropicana Las Vegas. All mail must be postmarked by the expiration date of the wagering voucher.”

That’s about it.

Casinos are required to make arrangements for chip and voucher redemption, and while Oyo isn’t affiliated with Tropicana, they lend a hand because the hope is when guests redeem Trop chips and vouchers, they’ll gamble with the money at Oyo.

There are lots of other closure details that haven’t been announced yet.

It’s unclear if the Tropicana will be imploded or dismantled piece-by-piece. Riviera was a combination of both. Not surprisingly, such decisions are based upon costs of the various forms of demolition, with asbestos mitigation being a big, expensive factor.

There’s also been no word about a possible liquidation. Typically, casinos bring in third party companies to inventory and sell off the resort’s assets. Sometimes, auctions are done online, in other cases, there are garage sales at the casino.

We trust you’ve been following this story as it’s unfolded. Tropicana is being demolished because the resort’s operator, Bally’s Corp., believes the A’s ballpark will be built on the site. It also believes it will be able to fund a multibillion dollar resort on the space adjacent to the stadium. All of which is fairly whimsical at this point, don’t get us started.

Our prediction for some time now has been they’re paving paradise to put up a parking lot. Refer to the aforementioned Riviera.

“Les Folies Bergere” ran at Trop for nearly 50 years. We didn’t see it. We didn’t have to because A.I. was there.

Lots of folks will be visiting Tropicana leading up to the closure, despite the fact they haven’t visited in years.

That’s how it works. Successful things don’t typically close or get imploded.

Tropicana has been a financial morass for many years, and not just because we were looking for an excuse to use the word “morass,” probably.

Trop’s shows are scattering to the four winds, with “MJ Live” moved to a casino near the Bonanza Gift Shop and the well-regarded “Purple Reign” has relocated to V Theater in the Miracle Mile Shops at Planet Hollywood.

The fate of Rich Little and Murray Sawchuck is undetermined.

In a thoughtful gesture, Tropicana is displaying the names of about 700 employees on its marquee, 24/7 until the resort closes, “serving as a tribute to their invaluable contributions and service.” We’re pretty sure employees would like cashy-cash more, but on the bright side, Trop is throwing them a “team member appreciation day.” Which is nice, as Bally’s isn’t really obligated to do anything. Business is business.

Yes, many Trop employees have worked there for decades. Take a couple months off, you guys.

As we were the first to share, Trop’s beautiful stained glass ceiling is being saved, potentially for use in the A’s stadium, should that become a thing.

There are lots of questions about the future of the Tropicana site, but whether the old girl will be demolished isn’t one of them. Rumors about a demolition have been floating around for years, so Trop was destined to become a rubble heap whether the A’s got involved or not.

Fun fact: After the Trop closes, it will get a 10-foot-tall wooden demolition fence around the entire property at a cost of $500,000.

We’ll be stopping by to say farewell to Tropicana at some point. We missed the chance to get a door handle from the Riviera, but we won’t make that mistake again should Trop have a yard sale.

People may not be especially broken up about Tropicana’s closure now, but trust us, in a few years, people will bemoan its loss. The same thing happened with Stardust, the Sands, the Dunes and the New Frontier. They were all sort of sad toward the end, but over time, nostalgia kicks in and everyone pines for the days when the mob ran Vegas because everyone got free foot rubs and everyone knew your name and shrimp cocktails cost 15 cents.

Tropicana is an OK casino, and it’s time for something new. It’s unclear what that might be, as a resort doesn’t really pencil out (a hotel can’t be tall enough to make a big profit due to height limitations, for example), and the A’s haven’t shown where they’re getting financing for a ballpark.

Anything but a parking lot or shopping, please.