How much is a single-use plastic bottle of water worth?

$999.99, according to one would-be seller on eBay.

This Tropicana-branded bottle of water was for sale on eBay for nearly $1,000 at the time of this writing.

Why the near four-figure price tag? Because the label of the 10-ounce bottle features branding for the Tropicana, the once-iconic hotel and casino on the Las Vegas Strip that closed its doors for the final time on April 2, two days shy of its 67^th birthday.

The eye-popping cost of the water bottle is emblematic of a social phenomenon surrounding the closure of the casino that once symbolized Rat Pack-era Vegas glitz and glamor: Namely, that people are keen to capture a piece of Sin City history by snatching up the last of the Tropicana’s branded merchandise.

ABC’s Las Vegas affiliate reported that there was a big run on official Tropicana-branded swag –  so much so that essentially no products with the casino’s branding remained in on-site gift shops during the casino’s final days.

SOLD OUT: "We went into the gift shop, nothing left."

A Bally's representative tells @ketchamtv they're sold out of everything with a Tropicana logo on it.https://t.co/ovwz94y5ff

— KTNV | Channel 13 News Las Vegas (@KTNV) April 1, 2024

As with the $999 water bottle, enterprising folks were looking to cash in on the swag demand by selling Tropicana-branded items on reseller websites.

As of this writing, featured items on eBay were a $110 Tropicana football jersey, T-shirts (including a vintage one priced at $400), gambling chips, slot machine cards, napkins, dice, decks of playing cards, souvenir menus, corkscrews, hats (including a snapback for $59.99), lapel pins and informational pamphlets/brochures. The list of items could go on.  

Over on Etsy, products for sale included Tropicana books of matches – going for $31. There were ashtrays for various prices, including a worn-looking model for nearly $24. Hats, including a crumpled vintage 1990s style that proclaimed the Tropicana as the “Island of Las Vegas,” were also being proffered.

As of this writing, this hat was for sale on Etsy for nearly $27, while these matchbooks were going for $31.

The demand for Tropicana merch and the inflated prices resellers were commanding speak to a theme that ASI Media has discussed before: One day’s seemingly ordinary branded merchandise can, with context, become tomorrow’s treasured memento – a tangible piece of history that symbolizes a time, place and/or people from days gone by.

Sentiment aside, the Tropicana is making way for what some Las Vegas leaders and Bally’s – owner of the now-closed casino – view as progress. The Oakland Athletics of Major League Baseball plan to relocate to Vegas and build their new stadium on the site of the old Tropicana. Bally’s is retaining part of the property to build a new casino resort.

Speaking of the A’s relocation, there’s a story there too – one that also demonstrates the uncanny power and attraction of branded merch.