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About Bally's Las Vegas

Opened originally as the first MGM Grand in 1973 on the site of the former Bonanza Hotel. It was the largest hotel in the world at the time. On November 21, 1980, one of the worst building fires in U.S. history broke out in the casino. At the time of the buildings construction, areas of hotel/casinos in Nevada that were in operation 24 hours a day were not required to have smoke detectors installed. The assumption was that an employee would spot the fire and be able to take care of it quickly. By the end of the 1970s the area in which the fire broke out was no longer operating 24 hours a day. The fire was started by faulty wiring inside the wall used to power a refrigeration unit in the casino's deli. A total of 87 people died as a result of the fire mostly from smoke inhalation (3 of the 87 died after the fire as a reuslt of injuries sustained during it) As a result of the tragedy, fire safety laws in Las Vegas were changed to some of the most strict in the nation.

After reconstruction, the hotel was sold to Bally's in 1985 and renamed. While the MGM Grand name was transfered to a new building on the south end of "the Strip."

Ghost Stories

The stairwells and hallways of the hotel are said to be haunted by the ghosts of those that died in the MGM Grand fire. Apparitions have been seen wandering the halls of the higher floors of the north tower and in the stairwells and elevators.

Our Review

He Says:

I have never stayed at Bally's, but on one of my trips "with the guys" back in the late 90s I won a jackpot playing on one of the slot machines using my friend's money. He was trying to win a Harley and gave me some of his coins to play in the machine next to him. I remarked that it was boring playing with someone else's money, so he offered to let me keep any payout that required someone to come out to pay it off. Sure enough, I hit a jackpot for a few hundred and someone had to come out to pay me.

She Says:

Long ago, I saw Penn & Teller at this place. I have never spent the night nor eaten here, but it is your typical Vegas casino hotel. Though it does have a very VERY long entrance. It looks rather 1980's, so it would be nice to see it get a face-lift....

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