The only major new casino of 2010 was the 2,995 room Cosmopolitan Resort (next to Cit圜enter), marketed by Marriott Hotels, and there have been no significant openings since. The main component is the Aria hotel/casino. The largest of the recent new builds is the Cit圜enter Resort between Bellagio and Monte Carlo, a collection of hotels, residences, shops and convention space that had an incredible budget of $11 billion most opened December 2009, and the project was largely completed during 2010. Recent demolitions are Boardwalk in 2006, Stardust in March 2007, New Frontier in November 2007 and Riviera in June 2016 Sahara closed in May 2011, reopening late 2014 after partial remodeling as SLS Las Vegas. In recent times, the businesses have been taken over by big conglomerates, many of the older places have been knocked down to make way for huge showy entertainment complexes aimed at attracting the whole family, though the rate of development has now decreased. Click each casino for more detailsGambling was legalized in Las Vegas in 1931, but large-scale construction of casinos did not begin until after World War 2, and for many years they were dominated by individual property holders, often with Mafia connections.
