Bellagio (hotel and casino)

Bellagio is a luxury hotel and casino located on the Las Vegas Strip in the Paradise area of unincorporated Clark County, Nevada, USA. It is owned by MGM Mirage and was built on the site of the demolished Dunes hotel and casino.
Inspired by the Lake Como resort of Bellagio in Italy, Bellagio is famed for its elegance. One of its most notable features is an 8-acre (32,000 m2) artificial lake between the building and the Strip, which houses the Fountains of Bellagio, a large dancing water fountain synchronized to music.
Inside Bellagio, Dale Chihuly's Fiori di Como, composed of over 2,000 hand-blown glass flowers, covers 2,000 sq ft (190 m2) of the lobby ceiling. Bellagio is home to Cirque du Soleil's aquatic production "O".



History

Bellagio was conceived by Steve Wynn and built by his company, Mirage Resorts, Inc. following the purchase and demolition of the legendary Dunes hotel and casino in 1993. Bellagio was designed by Marnell Corrao Associates and Jon Jerde. Bellagio had an original construction cost of US$1.6 billion.
The Bellagio opened October 15, 1998, just before 11 p.m. in a ceremony that cost a reported US$88 million. The VIPs invited to the grand opening were expected to donate to The Foundation Fighting Blindness US$1,000 a person or US$3,500 a couple, which entitled them to an overnight stay at Bellagio's suite rooms.

Opening night's entertainment began with Steve Wynn giving a 40-minute welcome speech followed by the opening of the Cirque du Soleil production "O." Performing in Bellagio lounges that night were New York cabaret and recording artist Michael Feinstein, George Bugatti and John Pizarrelli. When it opened, it was the most expensive hotel ever built at around US$1.6 billion.
In 2000 it became an MGM Mirage property when Mirage Resorts merged with MGM Grand Inc. to create MGM Mirage.
The Bellagio employs approximately 10,000 people. In the fall of 2006, the casino floor was remodeled and new uniforms were issued, changing the original color scheme to a more elegant type.



Gambling

Poker room
Many professional poker players prefer to play at the Bellagio poker room, calling it their home base (or more commonly "The Office") due to the high table limits. Poker professionals refer to the high-limit table as The Big Game[1] which is often played in Bobby's Room, the high stakes room at Bellagio.
Bellagio has also partnered with the World Poker Tour to host several of their tournaments.

Attractions

Fountains of Bellagio
The Fountains of Bellagio is a vast, choreographed water feature with performances set to light and music. (See musical fountain.) The performances take place in front of the Bellagio hotel and are visible from numerous vantage points on the Strip, both from the street and neighboring structures. The show takes place every 30 minutes in the afternoons and early evenings, and every 15 minutes from 8 p.m. to midnight. Before a water show starts, a gong sounds to warn people that the show is about to start. Exceptions: a single or string of shows may be withheld when winds prevail; a single show may be skipped to avoid interference with a planned event. The fountain display is choreographed to various pieces of music.



The fountains are set in a 9-acre (36,000 m2) manmade lake. Contrary to a common urban myth that the lake is filled with treated greywater from the hotel, it is actually serviced by a fresh water well that was drilled decades prior to irrigate a golf course that previously existed on the site. The fountains actually use less water than irrigating the golf course did.[3] They incorporate a network of pipes with more than 1,200 nozzles that make it possible to stage fountain displays coordinated with more than 4,500 lights. It is estimated that the fountains cost US$75 million to build.
Three types of nozzles are used for the various effects:
Oarsmen - Jets with a full range of spherical motion
Shooters - Shoot water upwards
Super Shooters - Send a water blast as high as 240 ft (73 m) in the air.
Extreme Shooters - Send a water blast as high as 460 ft (140 m)
The fountains were created by WET a design firm specializing in inventive fountains and architectural water features.[4] Following the success of the fountains, Steve Wynn asked WET to improve and modify the volcano attraction at sister casino The Mirage.

Sahara Hotel and Casino

Overview

When the Sahara Hotel and Casino opened in 1952, its exotic African theme - from the famed Sahara camels perched outside to the Casbar Theatre Lounge and Congo Showroom inside - seemed right at home on the mostly barren desert landscape that was the Las Vegas Strip. While you'd be hard-pressed to find empty space on the Strip today, the Sahara underwent a $100 million renovation project in the mid-1990s that paid respect to the hotel's roots and paved the way for an entirely new audience.



The Congo Room features The Platters, Cornell Gunter's Coasters and The Marvelettes performing their top hits from the 1950s and 1960s. The Casbar Theatre Lounge offers live music nightly. And several watering holes serve as an oasis in the bustling, 85,000-square-foot casino with a poker room, blackjack, keno, Pai Gow poker, a race and sports book, and more than 1,200 reel slots, video poker and keno machines. The return of the House of the Lords kept up with the tradition of legendary dining at the Sahara with such timeless favorites as New York Strip, Australian lobster tail and roast prime rib.

The addition of the NASCAR Café, Las Vegas Cyber Speedway, and SPEED-The Ride brought with it a ration of racing fans. The NASCAR Café is home to the world's largest stock car, Carzilla, which serves as the centerpiece to the Carzilla Bar. The LV Cyber Speedway features 7/8th-scale stock cars and Indy cars mounted on hydraulic bases for a realistic simulated driving experience. SPEED-The Ride is launched from inside the café.



Three hotel towers with more than 1,700 guest rooms and suites offer comfortable accommodations with voicemail and message service, iron and ironing board, hairdryer, a king bed or two double beds. Some Alexandria tower suites include parlor area with wet bar and balconies, plus there's a pool with cabanas.



Casino Amenities
Sports Book
Loyalty Club

www.visitlasvegas.com

Las Vegas Rules and Laws that You Need to Know

Las Vegas is considered by many tourists as being one of the most fun and fantastic cities in the world. Whenever traveling, it is the responsibility of the tourist to know and understand the laws of the visited location.



There are laws and rules in Las Vegas that must be understood before traveling there.

When walking around a casino in Las Vegas, chances are good that you will find a slot ticket, play chip, or money, which someone has left behind. According to the Las Vegas Visitors Commission's (LVVC) 2006 Las Vegas Visitors Report, two out of three people believe that these found items would then belong to them.



In Las Vegas, all slot tickets and play chips are the property of the casino. Any cash that is left behind also becomes the property of the casino. Attempting to use any cash tender that you have found in a casino can cause an unknowing tourist to be escorted off of the premises.

In Las Vegas, it is legal to walk around on The Strip, or Downtown with an open intoxicant. It is also legal to ride in a vehicle that is deemed as public transportation with an open intoxicant. It is illegal, though, to either walk in an undesignated area, or drive your own vehicle with an open alcoholic beverage. According to the LVVC's 2006 Report, two out of every five tourists who is arrested in Las Vegas has been arrested for breaking the city's intoxication laws.



The line, "What Happens in Vegas, Stays in Vegas," is recognized worldwide. Some people will say that Las Vegas was built on the idea of titillation. It is a well-known fact that there are areas inside Nevada that allow prostitution. It is not well known that Las Vegas is not one of the cities that will allow it.



Millions of people travel to Las Vegas every year hoping to be able to be the one who will break the bank, and bring a casino to its knees. Some people will attempt to increase their advantage over the casino by cheating. In Nevada, excessive cheating at a casino is a crime. Repeat offenders, or those who have been able to take large sums of money, end up in jail.


source: associatedcontent.com

Economy? What's that? xD

The primary drivers of the Las Vegas economy have been the confluence of tourism, gaming, and conventions which in turn feed the retail and dining industries. The city serves as world headquarters for the world's two largest Fortune 500 gaming companies, Harrah's Entertainment and MGM Mirage. Several companies involved in the manufacture of electronic gaming machines, such as slot machines, are located in the Las Vegas area. In the 2000s retail and dining have become attractions of their own. Tourism marketing and promotion are handled by the Las Vegas Convention and Visitors Authority, a county wide agency. Its annual Visitors Survey provides detailed information on visitor numbers, spending patterns and resulting revenues.

Some technology companies have either relocated to Las Vegas or were created there. For various reasons, the Las Vegas area has had a high concentration of technology companies in electronic gaming and telecommunications industries. Some current technology companies in southern Nevada include Bigelow Aerospace, CommPartners, Datanamics, eVital Communications, Petroglyph, SkywireMedia, Switch Communications, and WorldDoc. Companies that originally were formed in Las Vegas, but have since sold or relocated include Westwood Studios (sold to Electronic Arts), Systems Research & Development (Sold to IBM), Yellowpages.com (Sold to Bellsouth and SBC), and MPower Communications.
Constant population growth means that the housing construction industry is vitally important. In 2000 more than 21,000 new homes and 26,000 resale homes were purchased. In early 2005 there were 20 residential development projects of more than 300 acres (1.2 km2) each underway.



Redevelopment

When The Mirage opened in 1989, it started a trend of further development of the southern portion of the Las Vegas Strip. This resulted in a drop in tourism from the downtown area but many recent projects and condo construction have seen an increase in visitors to downtown.
A concerted effort has been made by city officials to diversify the economy from tourism by attracting light manufacturing, banking, and other commercial interests. The lack of any state individual or corporate income tax and very simple incorporation requirements have fostered the success of this effort.
Las Vegas has recently enjoyed an enormous boom both in population and in tourism. The urban area has grown outward so quickly that it is beginning to run into Bureau of Land Management holdings along its edges, increasing land values enough that medium- and high-density development is beginning to occur closer to the core. As a reflection of the city's rapid growing population, the new Chinatown of Las Vegas was constructed in the early 1990s on Spring Mountain Road. Chinatown initially consisted of only one large shopping center complex, but the area was recently expanded for new shopping centers that contain various Asian businesses.
With the Strip expansion in the 1990s, the downtown area (which has maintained an old Las Vegas feel) began to suffer. The city made a concerted effort to turn around the fortunes of downtown. The Fremont Street Experience (FSE) was built in an effort to draw tourists back to the area and has proven to be popular in that regard. The multi-level Neonopolis, complete with 11 theaters (managed by Galaxy Theaters, Inc.), was built to offer more retail opportunity and services. Many highrise condo projects have also been underway as downtown is transforming into a livable neighborhood. Other promising signs emerged for the area. The city had successfully lured the Internal Revenue Service operations from the far west of the city to a new downtown building that opened in April 2005. The IRS move is expected to create a greater demand for additional businesses in the area, especially in the daytime hours.
The city purchased 61 acres (247,000 m2) of property from Union Pacific Railroad in 1995 with the goal of creating something that would draw more tourists and locals to the downtown area. In 2004 Las Vegas Mayor Oscar Goodman announced plans for the Union Park Development which will include residential and office high-rises, The Lou Ruvo Brain Institute, an academic medical center, The Smith Center for the Performing Arts, and a new City Hall. After failed negotiations with The Related Co. on the development of Union Park in October 2005, San Diego-based Newland Communities was chosen by the city as the new development firm. The Newland contract calls for Dan Van Epp, Newland's regional vice president and former president of the Howard Hughes Corp., to oversee his company's work on Union Park. The Lou Ruvo Brain Institute is expected to be completed in 2007.
Along with the Union Park Development, other promising residential and office developments have begun construction around downtown Las Vegas. New condominium and hotel high rise projects have changed the entire Las Vegas skyline dramatically in recent years. Many large high-rise projects are planned for downtown Las Vegas as well as the Las Vegas Strip.
In 2004, the city partnered with Cheetah Wireless Technologies and MeshNetwork to pilot a wide area mobile broadband system. The pilot system is installed downtown, around the Fremont Street Experience. In 2005, on a lot adjacent to the city's 61 ac (247,000 m2), the World Market Center opened. It is intended to be the nation's and possibly the world's preeminent furniture wholesale showroom and marketplace, and is meant to compete with the current furniture market capital of High Point, North Carolina.
On October 23, 2006, plans were unveiled to build a World Jewelry Center in Downtown's Union Park. Similar to the World Market Center, the WJC will be a one stop shop for jewelry trade shows from around the world. The project proposes a 57-story, 815-foot (248 m) office tower.



Tourism

The major attractions in Las Vegas are the casinos. The most famous hotel casinos are located on Las Vegas Boulevard, better known as the Las Vegas Strip. Many of these hotels are massive, carrying thousands of rooms, with their large adjoining casino areas. There are many hotel casinos in the city's downtown area as well, which was the original focal point of the city's gaming industry in its early days. Several large hotels and casinos are also located somewhat off the Strip but adjacent to it, as well as in the county around the city.
Some of the most notable casinos involved in downtown gaming are on the Fremont Street Experience which was granted variances to allow bars to be closer together, similar to the Gaslamp Quarter of San Diego.


Golden Nugget
Four Queens
Binion's Gambling Hall and Hotel
Fremont Casino
Plaza Hotel & Casino
Las Vegas Club
Fitzgeralds Las Vegas
Golden Gate Hotel and Casino
California Hotel and Casino

Fuente: wikipedia.org

Britney Loves Las Vegas

Las Vegas (Spanish for The Meadows) is the most populous city in the U.S. state of Nevada, the seat of Clark County, and an internationally renowned major resort city for gambling, shopping, fine dining, and entertainment. Las Vegas, which bills itself as The Entertainment Capital of the World, is famous for the number of casino resorts and associated entertainment. A growing retirement and family city, it is the 28th most populous city in the United States with an estimated population by the U.S. Census Bureau of 603,093 as of 2008. The estimated population of the Las Vegas metropolitan area as of 2007, was 1,836,333.

Established in 1905, Las Vegas officially became a city in 1911. With the growth that followed, at the close of the century Las Vegas was the most populous American city founded in the 20th century (a distinction held by Chicago in the 19th century). The city's tolerance for various forms of adult entertainment earned it the title of Sin City, and this image has made Las Vegas a popular setting for films and television programs. Outdoor lighting displays are everywhere on the Las Vegas Strip and are seen elsewhere in the city as well. As seen from space, the Las Vegas metropolitan area is the brightest on Earth.



The name Las Vegas is often applied to unincorporated areas that surround the city, especially the resort areas on and near the Las Vegas Strip. This 4 mile (6.5-km) stretch of Las Vegas Boulevard is partly in the Las Vegas city limits, but mainly in the unincorporated communities of Paradise and Winchester, and continues partly into unincorporated Enterprise.


Fuente: wikipedia.org