As Las Vegas anxiously awaits the demolition of the Tropicana hotel-casino, room rates for properties surrounding the demolition site are rising.

The remainder of the Tropicana is tentatively scheduled to implode at 2:30 a.m. Oct. 9, pending approval of a permit from Clark County. A fireworks and drone show will precede the controlled demolition on Oct. 8, according to Bally’s Corp., operator of the ill-fated Rat Pack-era casino.

Las Vegas and casino history buffs jumped at the chance to witness Sin City’s first implosion in eight years.

In response to the announcement of the implosion last week, operators of accommodations near Trop or with direct views of the spectacle almost immediately raised room rates on the night of October 8.

Rooms at the Oyo hotel-casino, the closest hotel to the Trop, overlooking the Strip cost between $549 and $567 per night.

MGM Resorts International operates three casinos — MGM Grand, New York-New York and Excalibur — at the four-way intersection where the Trop stands. Rooms at New York-New York and Excalibur are already sold out, according to MGM’s online reservation system. The cheapest room at the MGM Grand is listed for $1,550.

Rooms at the Bellagio and Vdara hotels start at $699 per night. Both hotels are located less than a mile from the blast site.

The Trop’s planned implosion comes during the Global Gaming Expo, or G2E, the gaming industry’s largest annual conference. Room rates are often inflated for G2E, especially at properties with a mid-Strip location near the Venetian Expo Center, where the convention is held.

The last casino to implode in Las Vegas was the Riviera, which collapsed on August 16, 2016. Before that, the New Frontier, which collapsed in November 2007, was the last casino to implode in Las Vegas. That same year, the Stardust (March) on the Las Vegas Strip imploded.

The most recent major casino implosion occurred in Atlantic City. In February 2021, the former Trump Plaza casino-hotel on the AC Boardwalk went under, nearly seven years after it closed for good.

The Trop in Las Vegas is being imploded to make way for a proposed baseball stadium. Major League Baseball’s Oakland Athletics and Bally’s have proposed building a $1.5 billion stadium at the site, with a new resort to be built later, officials said. So far, funding sources for the projects have not been determined or approved.

David Danzis can be reached at [email protected]. Follow AC_Danzis on X.