I was there on one of the last nights the Stardust Casino was open in Las Vegas. I watched Don Rickles perform his signature routine and laughed a lot. John Stamos was in the audience a few rows behind me. I said “Hey, John.”. He said, “Hey. Who the hell are you?”
Seriously, though. I was fortunate enough to visit the Stardust just before it closed. I did see Mr. Rickles and Stamos. And even though neither of them actually spoke to me, I did manage to get a $5 chip which is somewhere in a box in the back of my closet.
All that said, I never thought the Stardust Casino would make a return… but it has, sort of. The Stardust Online Casino will soon be up and running in New Jersey and Pennsylvania, thanks to Boyd Gaming and Fan Duel. And even though it doesn’t smell like cigarette smoke, at least the name survives.
The Stardust brand belongs to the “old Vegas” casino style. Boyd owned the property the last two decades before it was demolished in 2007. They realized the brand still enjoyed recognition and held some value, so they launched a social play money casino under the name last summer.
Now, the social casino is becoming a real money gambling website. It will use the same iOS and Android apps in both New Jersey and Pennsylvania. Desktop users can also play in their browser from either state.
You can read more about the virtual return of the Stardust Casino at Online Poker Report.