►How we gambled before ash economy? ►Are religion and gambling somehow connected? ►How did risk-taking change after humanity settled down? ►How did 2nd chances - the concept of starting again - develop in America's gambling? ►Why did Las Vegas and Atlantic City seesaw on legalizing gambling?

Oliver Lewis wasn't supposed to win the first Kentucky Derby.

Oliver Lewis wasn't supposed to win the first Kentucky Derby. The jockey atop Aristides was instructed to have the horse serve as a "rabbit" and go hard at the beginning of the race to wear down the field, so stablemate Chesapeake could preserve his energy for the end to ride to victory.

When it first opened on April 4, 1957, the Tropicana was the most expensive hotel-casino ever built on the Las Vegas Strip. It was dubbed the “Tiffany of the Desert” in a nod to the status jewelry store. That elevated level of style set a new bar for what guests could and should expect, on a visit to Vegas.

One of Las Vegas’ longest-standing Strip casinos is shuttering its doors for good. Tropicana Las Vegas is set to close Tuesday, just two days shy of its 67th anniversary. Once a crown jewel on the Strip, the aging property has struggled to stand out in recent decades amid a sea of megaresorts.

The world of this old Vegas-set video game remains so compelling, fans travel here to visit the real thing. As I stand in the Goodsprings cemetery, I do my best to be respectful of its residents, especially since only bona fide citizens of the town can be buried here. The place has a sepulchral serenity. Miniature American flags on headstones flap in the wind. There is a bench for contemplation. The sun shines all day. It’s a fine place not only to spend eternity, but also to reflect on the fleeting nature of life, the passage of time, and one’s own mortality.

The Tropicana is dead; long live the Tropicana. The storied hotel-casino closes its doors April 2, just two days shy of its 67th birthday, to make way for a Major League Baseball stadium and a new Bally’s resort. Over the next year, the land the Tropicana now occupies will be cleared, with the intent that the organization currently known as the Oakland A’s will claim the empty lot in April 2025 and begin to build.

When the Tropicana resort was built on the Las Vegas Strip in 1957, it ended five years of rapid resort growth in Clark County. The county hadn’t yet tipped 100,000 people, but 8 million people flocked to Las Vegas for fun each year.