Casino

Jason Statham Arrives at 'Mechanic' Premiere in Iconic Jaguar E-type

Filed under: Luxury Cars & Autos, Events

Jason Stratham Arrives at 'Mechanic' Premiere in Iconic Jaguar E-type

British action star Jason Statham, leading man of new thriller The Mechanic, arrived at the movie's Las Vegas premiere (above) the other night in an iconic Jaguar E-Type. One of the world's sexiest sports cars, the E-Type just celebrated its 50th anniversary (see Autoblog's coverage here). Stratham, who's dating the delectable Rosie Huntington-Whiteley, plays an elite assassin in the film. For the premiere at the Las Vegas Planet Hollywood Resort and Casino, Stratham took a spin down the Strip before pulling up under the marquee. The Series II E-Type Coupe he borrowed for the event, owned by Jaguar Clubs of North America member Bill Streitenberger, was there to represent the Series I E-Type that appears in the movie – which meets with a rather unfortunate end on the big screen.

Tags: casino, celebrity, classic cars, entertainment, Jaguar, Jaguar E-Type, Jason Stratham, Las Vegas, movie star, movies, Planet Hollywood, premiere, Rosie Huntington-Whiteley, The Mechanic

The $100,000 Monte Carlo Desk from Viscount Linley

by Jared Paul Stern (RSS feed) —

Filed under: Decor, Architecture & Design

Viscount David Linley, the bespoke cabinetmaker who's a nephew of the Queen of England, has created an incredible one-of-a-kind $100,000 writing desk in homage to one of Monaco's most notable landmarks – the Monte Carlo Casino. Featuring the famed Beaux-Arts building as its central gallery, with stylized archways on either side, it bears marquetry detailing in various veneers representing the windows, columns, galleries and balusters of the casino, which was used as a location for the James Bond films Never Say Never Again, GoldenEye, and of course Casino Royale. The main body of the desk is constructed in American walnut with inlays of Santos rosewood and sycamore, while the writing surface is covered in rich dark red leather. On the underside of the domed lid of the architectural box is a marquetry depiction of Monaco's flag in red sycamore and holly. Six hand-carved figurines surmount the rooftop, and six secret drawers are each opened by a different mechanism.

Gallery: Monte Carlo Desk by Viscount Linley

[via JustLuxe]

Tags: architecture, Beaux-Arts, casino, Casino Royale, David Linley, desk, furniture, gambling, James Bond, leather, Monaco, Monte Carlo, Queen of England, viscount+linley, viscountlinley

Vegas Deal Will Make Madonna a Billionaire

by Jared Paul Stern (RSS feed) —

Filed under: Wealth

Madonna is poised to become a billionaire thanks to an offer of a five-year performing residency in Las Vegas. The deal, valued at $1 billion, is being brokered by Las Vegas officials looking to give the beleaguered town a boost and restore its tourist traffic, the London Sun reports, and would likely involve appearances at more than one glitzy casino. The arrangement is similar to ones that Celine Dion, Elton John and Cher have had in the past though much more lucrative. Madonna, who is already the fourth highest earning female entertainer in the world, would join Oprah on the very short list of celebrity female billionaires if she decides to sign on the dotted line. The megabucks payment would totally eclipse her previous earnings; in 2007, she signed a ten-year contract worth a measly $125 million with promoter Live Nation.

Tags: billionaire, casino, celebrity, Celine Dion, entertainment, Las Vegas, Madonna, music, Oprah

Massive Casino Complex Planned For Vancouver

by Deidre Woollard (RSS feed) —

Filed under: Luxury Travel & Hotels, Real Estate Developments

The Olympics may be over but Vancouver has a new way to generate excitement. B.C. Premier Gordon Campbell has revealed plans for a destination casino-hotel complex to be built next to the renovated B.C. Place stadium. The $450 million Canadian project will have both a luxury hotel and a mid-range hotel and a casino that is open 24 hours a day. The Edgewater Casino will be relocated to the new center. Paragon Development of Las Vegas, the owner of the Edgewater Casino, will build the new project. The project will create thousands of jobs both through construction and through jobs at the complex.

It is estimated that the casino could make as much as $130 million Canadian in gaming revenues for the provincial government in its first year of operation. If the City of Vancouver grants a rezoning application, construction could begin early next year. The main building will have a massive rooftop that will connect the two hotels and provide meeting spaces, a pool area and an entertainment destination. The hotels will have five restaurants between them. The project may completed by mid-2013.

Tags: canada, casino, gambling, gaming, hotel, vancouver

Steve Wynn Takes Over Philadelphia Casino Project

by Deidre Woollard (RSS feed) —

Filed under: Real Estate Developments

Steve Wynn has had great success in Las Vegas and Macau but will his brand of casino luxury play in Philadelphia? Wynn Resorts has announced that it entered into a letter of intent with Philadelphia Entertainment and Development Partners, LP to take over the PDEP casino project planned for the Philadelphia waterfront. The PDEP is a group of investors who joined with the Mashantucket Pequot Tribal Nation to win a casino license in 2006. The tribe runs two Foxwoods casinos in Connecticut but ran into financial trouble last year. The agreement is subject to the approval of the Pennsylvania Gaming Board. Wynn attended the University of Pennsylvania and stated in a release that "Philadelphia has always felt like home to me."

The Philadelphia casino project was originally a Foxwoods project but Foxwoods missed a December deadline to provide detailed architectural and engineering plans. According to the Philadelphia Daily News, the Gaming Control Board fined Foxwoods $2,000 per day for missing the deadline (the fees are now in the six figures). The project developers were facing the possibility of further sanctions, including losing the casino license. Wynn will take majority control of the project and be responsible for financing, building and running the casino.

Tags: casino, foxwoods, philadelphia, philadelphia casino, PhiladelphiaCasino, steve wynn, SteveWynn

Louis Vuitton Casino Trunk

by Jared Paul Stern (RSS feed) —

Filed under: Gadgets

For the opening of its newest boutique in Macau, one of the largest in the world, Louis Vuitton has unveiled an exclusive collection headlined by a bespoke Casino Trunk. The three-story space is part of the famed French luxury label's planned expansion across the Asia Pacific region. Available by special order only, the luxe Casino Trunk contains special drawers and compartments housing a roulette wheel, green baize game table cloths, playing cards, poker chips, gambling dice and a banker's briefcase. "The opening of this store and the investment it represents reflects Louis Vuitton's confidence in this market and the appreciation by the local customer of the quality and craftsmanship of Louis Vuitton's product range," declared Vuitton Chairman and CEO Yves Carcelle.

Source

Tags: Asia, bespoke, casino, gambling, Louis Vuitton, LouisVuitton, luggage, Macau, poker, trunk

Will Carl Icahn Rescue The Fontainebleau?

by Deidre Woollard (RSS feed) —

I've been following the fate of the Fontainebleau Las Vegas casino resort for a while now. It looks like the stalled project may have a new savior in the form of billionaire investor Carl Icahn. Icahn's Icahn Nevada Gaming LLC will be the opening or 'stalking horse' bidder in an auction of the resort after Penn National Gaming Inc. dropped out. Bloomberg News reports on the bidding war in court which led to Icahn offering $105 million, plus $51.5 million in debtor-in-possession financing besting Penn's offer of a total of $145 million. This means that the Icahn bid will be the one to beat.

The planned complex on the Las Vegas Strip is about 70 percent complete. It filed for bankruptcy in June and may cost around $1.5 billion to finish. Fontainebleau's sellers have asked U.S. Bankruptcy Judge A. Jay Cristol in Miami to auction the casino on January 21. Penn National Gaming had planned to finish Fontainebleau with an unidentified partner and to use the company's database of casino customers to help fill the casino with consumers. Icahn has a history of buying bankrupt casinos (including the Stratosphere in Las Vegas) and selling them for big profits. His entry into the fray may increase interest in the January auction and help ensure that someone eventually buys the casino and finishes the project.

Source

Tags: carl icahn, CarlIcahn, casino, fontainebleau, las vegas, las vegas strip, LasVegas, LasVegasStrip

Former TV Star's Plans For Beverly Hillbillies Casino

by Deidre Woollard (RSS feed) —

Filed under: Real Estate Developments

Beverly Hillbillies star Max Baer Jr. may be a long way from his days on the popular 1960s sitcom but he hasn't given up the character of Jethro yet. Baer, who is 71, is looking into buying a closed hotel-casino in Sparks, Nevada and turning it into Jethro's Beverly Hillbillies Hotel and Casino. The mayor of the town says that Baer has met with city officials and councilmen on the possible purchase of what was the Silver Club. Baer already has a home at Lake Tahoe.

The former actor has had this idea for a while and already had approval to build his casino in another location, next to a retail complex being built in northern Douglas County about 30 miles south of Reno and Sparks. But the construction of the retail complex has stalled and so Baer, who feels the pressure of age and the economy, is looking at other options.

The Silver Club is one is six Holder Hospitality casinos in Nevada that have filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy reorganization and all the properties are for sale. Baer's casino plans as shown on his website include a facade that looks like the Beverly Hillbillies mansion and a large oil derrick sign. That sign would be a problem in Sparks because it would be 200 feet tall and the municipal code only allows signs that are about 50 feet tall. His desire to build a huge derrick with a flame on top kept him from building this project in Reno around 10 years ago.

According to his website the multi-million dollar project will feature unique applications of The Beverly Hillbillies theme including Granny's Shot Gun Weddin' Chapel, Jethro's All-You-Ken-Et Buffet, the Cement Pond, Granny's White Lightnin' Bar complete with rain & lightning, Elly May's Buns (Bakery), gourmet meals from Drysdales' Fancy Eatin' Fo Da Richins and Granny's Vittles & Hog Jowls Coffee Shop.

Source

Tags: beverly hillbillies, BeverlyHillbillies, casino, max baer jr, MaxBaerJr, nevada, sparks

Azimuth Roulette Watch: With Real Gambling Action!

by Ariel Adams (RSS feed) —

Filed under: Timepieces / Watches

Are you ready for this watch novelty from Azimuth? A few years ago Girard Perregaux released its working slot machine watch, and around the same time Daniel Roth had announced his dice playing watch. The theme of gambling watches continues now with the Roulette watch from Azimuth which features a working roulette wheel. Press in the die shaped crown and the small white ball on the roulette wheel begins to spin - randomly stopping on one of the numbers. How cool is that?

Aside from the roulette function, the watch clearly tells the time via easy to read partially skeletonized hands and a spinning roulette wheel's spinning handle that serves as the seconds hand. The case is uniquely cut in a very angular design probably meant to look like a roulette table. As whimsical novelty watches go, this is up there on "well done" list. Inside the watch is a modified ETA 2824-2 automatic mechanical movement. The stainless steel watch case is 45mm x 34mm and is ergonomically designed to fit snugly on the wrist. The rear of the watch reads "BEAT THE CASINO" optimistically, as the face of the watch is fitted with sapphire crystal as well as a balance wheel porthole on the rear of the watch.

5000 Azimuth Roulette watches will be available starting at the end of 2009, when they will be released to celebrate the "grandest' Casio in Asia's opening in Singapore. No doubt this is an apt watch for the occassion.

Ariel Adams publishes the popular watch review site aBlogtoRead.com.

Gallery: Azimuth Roulette Watch

Tags: 2009, azimuth, casino, gambling, novelty, roulette, table, timepiece, watch, wheel

Sands Casino In Pennsylvania Set To Open

by Deidre Woollard (RSS feed) —

Filed under: Real Estate Developments

The Las Vegas Sands Corporation has been having some financial trouble lately but the plans for the Sands Casino Resort Bethlehem in Bethlehem, Pennsylvania are going forward. The resort is scheduled to open to the public for the first time on May 22 with a grand opening on June 9, 2009.

The resort is located on the former site of the Bethlehem Steel plant and will have 3,000 slot machines, a 24-hour Cafe, an Irish pub, a marketplace featuring a wide selection of cuisines, and a celebrity chef steak house. The Sands Bethlehem has brought over 1,000 jobs to the region. Further development calls for an additional 2,000 slot machines, 200,000 square feet of retail space, and nearly 50,000 square feet of flexible multi-purpose space, which will allow the property to accommodate meetings, conventions, and special events. The master plan will eventually include a 300-room hotel, with the rooms modeled after those at the Palazzo Resort in Las Vegas as well as a National Museum of Industrial History, SteelStax - an arts and cultural center, and will also serve as the home for the local public broadcasting station, PBS 39 / WLVT.

This news come just as Sands Chairman and Chief Executive Sheldon Adelson announced this week that the company expects to avoid a debt default through cutting costs, selling two retail malls at the Venetian Macau resort and the Four Seasons hotel in Macau. If Adelson isn't able to find some more money the ambitious future plans for the Bethlehem project may be delayed.

Source

Tags: bethlehem pennsylvania, BethlehemPennsylvania, casino, las vegas sands, LasVegasSands, sheldon adelson, SheldonAdelson

Blue Chip Casino Opens Vegas-Style Hotel Tower

by Deidre Woollard (RSS feed) —

Filed under: Luxury Travel & Hotels

We are seeing more and more large casinos in the Midwest. The Blue Chip Casino & Hotel in Michigan City, Indiana recently opened its new, 22-story hotel tower, Spa Blu. The tower is part of a $130 million expansion project that added two restaurants, an event center and a luxury spa to the Blue Chip which still has its casino area out on a riverboat. The tower has 272 rooms and 30 suites, the most lavish of which is the loft, a 1,575 foot suite with glass walls showcasing views of Lake Michigan and the surrounding countryside. Rooms in the Spa Blu tower start at $95.

The casino is hoping to lure back customers with the flashy renovations. Since the Four Winds Casino in New Buffalo, Michigan opened in 2007, the Blue Chip Casino has seen business fall by 40 percent.

Source

Tags: blue chip casino, BlueChipCasino, casino, michigan

The Plans For Maine's Casino Resort

by Deidre Woollard (RSS feed) —

Filed under: Real Estate Developments

The Olympia Group has revealed their plans for the Oxford Highlands Resort- Spa-Casino in Oxford County, Maine. The project will have two phases costing $150 million total and ending up with a 300 room hotel, a large conference center, a casino featuring up to 1,500 slot machines, a wide variety of table games, fine and casual dining options, a spa, indoor and outdoor pools, parking for guests and accommodations for snowmobiles, cross country skiing and numerous other year round amenities. The resort is designed to be a resort destination for Maine and one that is hoped to create jobs for up to 800 people and add revenue to Maine's economy. The specific location hasn't been chosen yet but it will take up around 25 acres. If the casino is approved by Maine voters in November then construction would begin as soon as possible.

Source

Tags: casino, maine, oxford highlands, OxfordHighlands

Will Gambling Come To Miami Beach?

by Deidre Woollard (RSS feed) —

Filed under: Luxury Travel & Hotels

The Fontainebleau Miami Beach hotel is currently finishing up a $500 million renovation but could there be plans for a casino in the venerable Florida hotel? The Miami Herald reports on a recent push to have the Florida constitution amended to allow gambling at the proposed Miami Worldcenter and any hotel in Miami Beach with more than 800 rooms, a restriction that includes only the Fontainebleau. It's a natural leap considering that a Fontainebleau casino in Las Vegas is already under construction.

The new Fontainebleau in Miami Beach is set to open next month and follows the inclusive hotel paradigm of Las Vegas Strip hotels with 11 restaurants and bars, ample meeting space, 1,500 guest rooms, and a 40,000-square-foot spa. The developers have said that their plains for the Miami Beach hotel did not include casinos. The push for gambling in Miami comes from Miami developer who wants to put a casino in a commercial complex planned for the downtown area. But many feel that the Fontainebleau is the natural place for a casino in Miami Beach, it has the size and prestige to embrace gambling in a way that would add to the resort. And it could also bring a much needed infusion of cash to the South Florida resort economy.

Source

Tags: casino, fontainebleau, gambling, miami beach, MiamiBeach

M Resort Project Topped Off

by Deidre Woollard (RSS feed) —

Filed under: Luxury Travel & Hotels, Real Estate Developments

Marnell Corrao Associates has announced the topping off the M Resort, Spa and Casino in Las Vegas. The $1 billion project is located on South Las Vegas Boulevard and St. Rose Parkway a bit of a ways from the Las Vegas Strip. The M Resort, Spa and Casino will have 390 guest rooms, nine restaurants, a destination wine cellar and tasting room, more than 60,000 square feet of meeting and conference space, a 23,000 square foot spa and fitness center and over 100,000 square foot pool and events piazza named Villaggio del Sole. Of course there will be a casino with over 92,000 square feet of gaming space including 1,846 slot machines, 64 table games and a state-of-the-art race and sports book. A March 2009 is planned.

The resort has also entered into a partnership with Taubman Center Inc. to create the first full-scale, department store anchored regional mall to be directly integrated into a casino resort. It will add one million square feet of in-line shopping to the resort and is expected to open in late 2011 or early 2012. Another feature of the resort will be a 63,000 square foot movie theater with 14 screens and 3,100 seat of all-stadium luxury seating with digital sound and premium concession selections,.

Source

Tags: casino, las vegas, LasVegas, resort

Gaming Goes Green

by Rigel Celeste (RSS feed) —

Filed under: Green

Going green is all the rage and it's seeping into everything -- even into the casino gaming industry! EGM Green is now offering what they tout as the first ever 100% eco-friendly line of casino gaming products. The main attraction is their line of gaming tables (like the poker table shown above) plus they also make seating for tables and slot machines and luxury lounge furniture. Everything for indulging your hobby and getting the complete casino experience, whether in your home or business.

Speaking of that, does anybody know of any eco-friendly/LEED certified casinos?

Source

Tags: casino, craps, eco friendly, eco-friendly, eco-friendly products, Eco-friendlyProducts, EcoFriendly, gambling, gaming, green, poker, roullette

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