Inside Asian Gaming

inside asian gaming October 2016 28 Feature In Focus Koi Palace, plus live seafood flown in daily. Uber-fine dining entry Phoenix spotlights China’s latest culinary trends. Bao Now, adjacent to the main gaming floor, is Lucky Dragon’s 24 hour dai pai dong or kedai kopi with dim sun, soups, congee, noodle and rice dishes, plus coffee and tea, designed to eat in or take away. Curated by Las Vegas’s first tea sommelier, Cha Garden bridges the lobby and pool area as an indoor-outdoor lounge and tea garden designed in harmony with Feng Shui principles. Open 24 hours with full bar service and seating plus a yam cha menu, Cha Garden gives an Asian spin on the modern Vegas nightlife experience, its poolside cabanas becoming “private tea huts” after dark. NEW WAVE Lucky Dragon will be the first completely new casino to open on the Strip since Cosmopolitan in 2010 (SLS, opened in August 2014, is a makeover of the Sahara), located on one hectare (2.5 acres) next to Mr Fonfa’s Allure Tower condominiums on Sahara Boulevard west of the Strip at its previously neglected north end. “There is over US$14 billion of recently completed, underway or announced development on the north end of the Strip, making this the largest development corridor in the US,” Mr Jacoby says. “Lucky Dragon will help lead this wave of new development.” The crest of that wave is Genting’s US$4 billion Resorts World Las Vegas. The Malaysia based global operator received Nevada Gaming Commission approval in May for the 3,100 room property, now slated for completion in 2019 – a prospect Lucky Dragon welcomes. “We are excited for Resorts World Las Vegas to open in the coming years,” Mr Jacoby, who has a master’s degree in hotel management Weidner’s Dragon Luck Life after Las Vegas Sands hasn’t been nearly as triumphant for William Weidner as his 14 years as the company’s President, Chief Operating Officer and top lieutenant to founder Sheldon Adelson. During his 1995 to 2009 tenure, LVS debuted and honed its convention based integrated resort model with the openings of Venetian and Palazzo on the Vegas Strip, and won gaming licenses in Macau and Singapore. Lucky Dragon represents Mr Weidner’s next chance for a signature post-LVS success. Mr Weidner serves as chairman and CEO of Global Gaming Asset Management, a joint venture between Wall Street’s Cantor Fitzgerald and a team of former LVS executives led by Mr Weidner. However, his involvement with Lucky Dragon is separate from GGAM. “William Weidner is a close strategic advisor and visionary for Lucky Dragon and members of his family are actively involved in the project as well,” Lucky Dragon Chief Operating Officer David Jacoby, By Muhammad Cohen An artist’s impression of the casino and center bar