200-year-old London luxury goods firm Asprey has been making some of the world's most exquisite games for decades, of the sort that wouldn't look out of place in a palace. One of their latest offerings is a beautiful handmade gentleman's poker set in black polished genuine crocodile skin with ceramic poker chips and royal purple Asprey playing cards (above). Priced at about $8,000 it certainly brings new meaning to "poker night". Asprey, founded in 1781, holds a Royal Warrant from the Prince of Wales, one of several granted by the British Royal Family over the years. As we reported last year, Asprey decided to return to its roots and focus on its core business of luxury goods representing a high-water mark of taste, refinement and quality after having branched out into clothing and footwear.

[via JustLuxe]

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.

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.

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?

Former NBA player and popular sports analyst Charles Barkley might want to steer clear of the gambling tables for a while. Barkley has spoken of his love of gambling before, in a 2006 interview he estimated that he's lost $10 million. Now his love of games of chance has landed him in hot water, Wynn Las Vegas filed a lawsuit in District Court on Wednesday saying Barkley owes $400,000 in gambling chits from last year. The casino has asked the Clark County district attorney's bad check unit to open a criminal investigation. Barkley will be given the chance to make restitution and avoid being charged with a felony. The lawsuit shows that the four $100,000 gambling markers date back to October.

UPDATE: Barkley has admitted the debt and says he will pay up.

Atlantic City is on the rise again with a new massive plan from the MGM Mirage. The project, which could run up to $5 billion, includes three hotel towers with more than 3,000 rooms, the largest casino floor in the state, a theater, spa, convention center and retail space. There may be a residential component at a later date. The resort will also be the city's tallest building. Pending state approval, they plan to break ground on the project next year and it should be completed in 2012. This project will likely be called City Center East and it is the companion project to the huge project currently underway in Las Vegas.

Everything changes, even in Vegas (or especially in Vegas?) when it comes to big name casinos and how they divy out their best suites. They used to be reserved exclusively for only the highest of high rollers on a comp basis, but these days more and more casinos are catering to a different crowd: those who just want to pay to party and not necessarily spend all day and night gambling.

Flat rates and outrageous luxury perks are the latest trend, with prices easily skyrocketing into 5 digits. The top of the line? The Fantasy Towers at Palms, Hugh Hefner Sky Villa, available for only $40,000/night.

The town known as Christmas City, Bethlehem, Pennsylvania just got a big gift for the holidays. The Pennsylvania Gaming Control Board has announced the Sands Bethworks Gaming, a subsidiary of Las Vegas Sands has been approved for a state gaming license. The company will now begin construction on a massive casino complex that will be located on the site of the former Bethlehem Steel plant. The first phase of the "Sands BethWorks" project will include a 300-room hotel, 3,000 slot machines, multiple dining and entertainment venues, the National Museum of Industrial History and the broadcast home of the local PBS affiliate. The company hopes to open the complex in 2008. The project is expected to bring jobs, tourism and a big boost to the local economy.

This is a fitting topic for Independence Day, one of the most historic spots in the United States could soon become the neighbor of a massive casino project. Crossroads Gaming Resort and Spa is a four-star hotel, luxury spa, and restaurants located nearly three miles from the historic Gettysburg battlefield. ABC News reports that plans for the resort were first presented a year and a half ago but that some balk at the idea of a casino so near to this site. Preservationists and Civil War history buffs are predictably up in arms but locals are divided, some feel that the benefit to the local economy is needed. Local lawmakers recessed for the summer without voting on a gambling bill that could put an end to the project.

We mentioned earlier that Paris Hilton allegedly bet away her Bentley at her family's casino. PartyPoker, an online poker room, apparently felt pretty bad for Miss Hilton and have offered her a chance to get a new Bentley. To win the car she would have to play No-Limit Hold 'Em against PartyPoker host Mike Sexton. If she won, she'd get the Bentley. PartyPoker says the offer is good for the next thirty days. I'm not betting she's going to do it but it would be a great publicity stunt.

It seems almost like a late April's Fool's Day joke but it's true, Kazak authorities are pondering a gambling and entertainment complex near the city of Almaty. The BBC reports that President Nursultan Nazarbayev has said that he had long thought of building a version of Las Vegas on a steppe outside the city. A desert gambling oasis may help control gambling inside the major cities. Almaty alone has nearly 40 casinos. Nazarbayev wants to shift that action to the shores of Lake Kapchegai around 50 miles away (Vegas with a beach). While the article references the rise of gambling in Asian countries it doesn't mention that another aspirant to the Vegas throne, the Cotai Strip in Macau which already has attracted major hotel and retail interest and has massive Vegas-style hotels under construction.  Now if Steve Wynn shows up in Kazakhstan then we'll know it's really going somewhere.