Casino connection not novel to Vegas

Las Vegas Sands Corp. didn't need to obtain a gaming license from state regulators to open the $1.9 billion Palazzo this month.

The casino is being operated as an extension of The Venetian and is being run under that resort's gaming license. The two properties, which are connected by an indoor walkway, share back-of-the-house services. Sands executives believe the cost savings could reach $60 million for the combined complex.

This isn't a first, however, for Las Vegas.

Paris Las Vegas, which was opened in 1999 by Park Place Entertainment, is connected to Bally's and the casinos share a gaming license.

Binion's Horseshoe originated the idea. The Binion family bought the neighboring Mint Hotel and Casino in 1989 with its 26-story hotel tower. A wall connecting the two downtown casinos was opened.

Gaming regulators said the Mint became "an expansion" to the Horseshoe, thus, allowing the Binion family to avoid going through a licensing process for the casino.

Elad Property Group, which said it will spend $8 billion to build a version of New York's Plaza Hotel in Las Vegas on the site of the imploded New Frontier, wants to bring the idea to Macau.

Elad President and CEO Miki Naftali said the company is looking to expand the Plaza brand into major cities in Asia, including Shanghai, China; Tokyo; Hong Kong and Singapore.

To expand its evolving gaming operations, Naftali said, the company would like to develop a hotel-casino in Macau. The questions are where and with whom.

All the available gaming and subconcessions have been awarded, and most of the sites on the Cotai Strip and Macau Peninsula have been claimed. It's unclear whether the Macau government will award new casino concessions any time soon.

While Massachusetts Gov. Deval Patrick seeks support for passage of his gambling expansion bill, a new player may have entered the picture. Bostonmagazine.com reported Wynn Resorts Ltd. Chairman Steve Wynn is looking hard at a gaming location in Boston.

The story quoted Charles Sarkis, owner of the Wonderland Greyhound Park, who would like to put a casino at his track.

"I can tell you that Wynn is looking seriously," Sarkis said. "He's looking at various places."

Las Vegas Sands Corp. Chairman Sheldon Adelson, a native of Dorchester, Mass., is pushing for one of the casino sites, as is Harrah's Entertainment Chairman Gary Loveman, a resident of suburban Boston.

Patrick wants the three casinos to go in the state's western, southeastern and metro-Boston regions.

The Inside Gaming column is compiled by Review-Journal gaming and tourism writers Howard Stutz, Benjamin Spillman and Arnold M. Knightly. Send your tips about the gaming and tourism industry to insidegaming@reviewjournal.com.