In 1983 the casino was expanded and the first hotel was constructed on the site.  Every few years since then, some or other large project has been undertaken to improve and entarge some aspect of the business.  Major upgrades include additions to hotel rooms and capacity, several new restaurants and cafes, a spa and swimming pool area, nightclub and casino expansion.

Much of the development is geared towards the process of changing the entire theme of the resort into a Tuscan one which should be largely complete by 2012.  Like some other properties in Reno, the Peppermill has also made efforts to tap into the geothermal power that occurs in the area.

Peppermill Poker Room.

Enough history then – what can a gambler expect from a visit to the Peppermill?  Slots first and the Peppermill has a selection of hundreds to choose from, not too mention many video poker machines.  The company also prides itself on its high payout percentages.

Table games are hosted on 48 tables and as you would expect there’s a range of traditional games on offer such as Baccarat and Blackjack as well as more modern creations such as Let It Ride.  The Peppermill rightly concentrates on poker as one of the most popular games and one of the latest building developments has been a brand new poker room, complete with 19 luxury tables.  Daily tournaments are hosted in this room.

The loyalty club is called the Passport Players Club and accrues points via gameplay which can earn you hotel rooms, free dining and various other rewards.  High rollers can also look forward to special treatment such as personal attention and tickets to the entertainment offered by the Peppermill.

Cebu is a province in the Philippines consisting of one major island and 167 surrounding ones.  The city of Cebu is the Philippines second largest city (the largest is of course Manila) and the largest on the island of Cebu.  Cebu lends its name to several places, as you can see. The city itself is home to around 900,000 people.

Cebu City Skyline

This article will introduce the Waterfront Hotel and Casino to the websites readers and maybe persuade one or two to visit this fascinating country while travelling in the region. The Waterfront Hotel itself is a luxury destination featuring an array of bars and restaurants for its clientele as well as a gym, swimming pool and all the other amenities onw would expect in hotel of this standard.

The casino itself goes by the slightly unattractive name of PAGCOR Cebu, which stands for the Philippine Amusement and Gaming Corporation.  Once inside the venue, players are able to choose from an array of table games they may be familiar with – Bacarrat, Roulette, Stud Poker – and some more unusual ‘local’ games such as Pula-Puti and Big and Small.

For the slots fans there are more than 700 machines spread over three areas, including many progressive slots for fans of the big jackpots.  Bingo also takes place several times a week with a range of entry prices and prizes.

There is no VIP area in this casino as such but there is a loyalty card system which players can apply for which will allow customers to collect points for later use.  Lastly, let’s not forget the entertainment available and regular live bands and shows will provide hotel and casino guests with an occasional break from gaming.

The SkyPark Infinity Pool

since the first casinos were actually opened.  Singapore’s conservative nature ensured that only two casinos would be built to begin with.  Resorts World Sentosa & Marina Bay Sands have an exclusivity agreement that will last for some years yet.  Gambling laws in the city are among some of the toughest in the world, especially with regards to local Singaporeans, but that hasn’t stopped Singapore from climbing to second place on the Asian gaming revenue league, some distance behind Macau but with only two casinos.

Singapore’s two casinos are part of what they call integrated resorts, partly to take the focus away from the casinos and partly because they are much more than just focused gaming arenas.  They are holiday destinations in themselves.

Las Vegas Sands was the chosen bidder to develop this particular site.  It was an incredible undertaking, costing around $8 billion finally and the company said it was “one of the world’s most challenging construction projects and certainly the most expensive stand-alone integrated resort property ever built.”

So we already know it’s not just a casino – it’s a three tower, 55 storey hotel complex containing 2.561 rooms, it features multiple outstanding restaurants and bars.  There’s a gigantic shopping mall and perhaps the piece de resistance – the SkyPark, a 150m infinity pool hanging 67 metres in the air.

Sands interior.

So you’d imagine there’s a pretty big casino and you’d be right.  There are 500 tables available for gaming spread over four levels and featuring every game you can imagine.  It’s Singapore so the Chinese influence is evident here with Sic Bo, Baccarat and Singapore Stud Poker.  Any other games?  They’re also there and can also be played in the exclusive High Limit, Ruby and Paiza areas.

Slots fans won’t be disappointed, there are more than 1600 featured here, many with progressive jackpots.  There are also electronic table games for when you still want the machine, but a change from the slots.

Singaporeans and permanent residents are required to pay a fee but as a visitor or tourist you won’t have to.  You will have to dress appropriately though, which means no beach wear.

Founded in 1962 by John Aspinall, the original list of members verged on royalty.  Dukes,

Clermont Club Exterior

Duchesses and Earls rubbed shoulders with business leaders of the day such as Kerry Packer and James Goldsmith.  This group of characters have become known as the Clermont Set. Aspinall himself was a noted gambler and has been accused of having criminal links.  It was these links that have led some to believe that Aspinall cheated many of his customers at the gaming tables.  Ownership of the club passed to Playboy Enterprises in 1972 who then lost their gaming license in 1982.  The club was acquired by Rank who, in 2006, sold it to a Malaysian organisation.

What about the gaming then?  It’s short, exclusive list of wealthy members means that it doesn’t really require much in the way of tables.  In fact six are all that’s on offer.  The games themselves befit a club of the Clermont’s prestige – Roulette, Black Jack, Three Card Poker and Punto Banco – and the stakes are, of course, high.  If your application is accepted, don’t forget your credit card.

Aside from the gaming, the Clermont features a restaurant and bar and a luxurious lounge to relax and enjoy your drink, as the casino says, “away from the hustle and bustle of city life.” Students of architecture will also appreciate the Clermont Club – it’s William Kent’s only remaining town house and a superb example of the genre.  So if your application is not accepted, there’s always something to admire from the outside.

We have already written about the Monte Carlo Casino, probably the most famous venue, but this article is about the Casino Cafe de Paris, almost as well known.  You could describe the Cafe de Paris as an old style casino – the dress code, for example, is quite strictbut there’s nothing wrong with that.  ‘Correct attire’ is how the casino describes it and it really means look smart, don’t wander in off the beach for a go on the slot machines.  Do note though that military and religious outfits are not allowed.  Entry is free.

Casino Cafe de Paris interior

It’s open form 10am but don’t expect to play any table games before 5pm.  Daytime gamblers are restricted to the approximately 500 slots and video poker machines.  Game varieties are limited but somehow appropriate for the Cafe de Paris – Blackjack, Craps and American Roulette are on offer, but only after 5pm of course.

Despite its age and prestige, the Cafe de Paris does not have any restaurants as such.  The parent company does have other casinos and restaurants dotted around Monte Carlo but that won’t help you if you’re peckish in the middle of a killer Blackjack streak.

The casino styles itself as a futuristic location and it probably was once but now it’s a location to be visited and enjoyed as part of Monaco’s history and its long relationship with gaming.

What is true however, is that there was some sort of cashflow problem (and a large one at that) which all but necessitated the need to sell the casino.  Into this breach stepped Howard Hughes who took over the club in 1970.  Hughes mark on a casino would normally be a virtual guarantee of success but his well-ordered environment was just not what the regular punters wanted.  They had become used to the chaotic atmosphere and the friendly interaction between dealers and players and the more remote ‘employee-customer’ relationship wasn’t what they wanted.

The employees had also enjoyed working there under the Smith family but in fact some now left the new regime for other casino, most notably Jessie Back’s Keno operation, which took with a number of workers.

Nevertheless the casino continued under the new management for a number of years and Hughes invested heavily in a four storey expansion in 1971.  It’s not true to say that the casino was failing but it had lost what had made it special under the previous ownership.  Loyal customers had no reason to stay loyal anymore and it became just another corporate casino.

In 1988 the Hughes corporation sold it on to The Fitzgerald Group and in 1995 it passed into

Harrah's Plaza

the hands of Gamma International, a company which harboured the intention of re-branding Harold’s.  It closed it’s doors for the renovation to begin but only opened once more, and only for four hours just for the purpose of retaining its gaming license.

Harrah’s bought the property in 1999 and demolished it, building a plaza in its place.  That was the end of a piece of Reno and gaming history.

Harold’s and Reno in general were helped massively by the Second World War – Reno Army Air base opened at the neighbouring town of Stead, supplying and endless stream of customers.  Soldiers from the California Bay area also made their way to Reno when they were on leave.

The 1940s was also when Harold’s began its now legendary advertising campaign.  Thousands of giant billboards were erected all over the state, the country and even internationally.  How many international tourists were ever tempted to travel to Nevada in the 1940s must be up for debate but there was no denying the scale and ambition of the Smith family.

Harold’s Club expanded twice during the 1940s, on both occasions taking over neighbouring

The Covered Wagon Room at Harold's Club

properties.  This enabled Harold’s to open new rooms and bar facilities.  It’s Roaring Camp room and famous Covered Wagon bar were attractions in themselves and the general cowboy theme of the whole establishment was another draw.

As the 1950s rolled around, Harold’s continued to expand and had more than 500 employees.  On Labor day in 1952, the club recorded more than 44,000 people through the doors.  The first restaurant was opened in 1955 on the third floor and on the seventh floor of the same building the club offered entertainment and more bar facilities.  Among other notable performers, Louis Armstrong, Petula Clark and Rosemary Clooney appeared here, despite the cramped nature of the room.

It’s spectacular success continued into the 1960s and in 1962 the property was sold to a firm of New York investors for $16.5 million who then leased the casino operation back to the Smith family.  It is believed the family needed to raise some money.  The club expanded once more in 1964 and these years were to prove the final highlights of Harold’s Club.

Part Three follows…..

Artists Impression of Reno at Night

many of the hotels and casinos that were built following gaming legalisation in Nevada in 1931 have bee demolished.  Unlike Vegas, they have not been replaced by bigger casinos but by other industries as Reno for a new way forward.

Harold’s Club was the first casino to be developed by a Reno outsider – following legalisation most establishments were just existing backroom operations that suddenly became legal.

The Smith family from Vermont were behind Harold’s Club.  They had been running illegal card games and the like in neighbouring California when legalisation in Nevada became a reality.  Pappy Smith provided his two sons Harold and Raymond with a $500 loan to establish Harold’s Club in the gambling zone on Virginia Street in 1935 and if there had been such a thing as a mission statement then it would have been to treat customers with respect.

Other gaming establish of the era in Reno were happy to take a punters money as quickly as possible, unconcerned about whether they had enjoyed the experience and if they would ever come back.  Harold’s Club always made sure customers had something to eat and drink and ‘Pappy’ himself would wander the gaming floor, joking with players whether they were regulars or not.

Pappy was even known to take pity on those who had suffered big losses and to hand out cash as he toured the floor.  The dealers were even encouraged to advise punters when they were making an unwise bet, especially in Blackjack.  This would be an automatic firing in most casinos – then and now.

To begin with the casino was a tiny affair – there were just two slot machines and a vertical roulette wheel.  Despite this, turnover was still impressive in the first year although the brothers incurred a small loss.  By the end of the 1930s however, Harold’s employed forty staff and things were looking good.

Part Two follows – global advertising

Crown at the South Bank Complex

Any visitors to Australia, New Zealand and quite possibly South Africa will, before long, notice that many things are labelled with the term “biggest in the Southern Hemisphere”.  Some of these things are genuinely big, some not as big as you might think.  The Southern Hemisphere doesn’t have too much competition as a quick glance at a map of the world will tell you.

However Australian casinos do tend to be a fair size and the Crown Casino in Melbourne does in fact claim to be the biggest in the Southern Hemisphere.  Originally built in 1994 on the north bank of the Yarra River, 3 years later it relocated to the South Bank Complex.  The original developer was an Australian businessman called Lloyd Williams but the while enterprise was taken over by Kerry Packer in 1999 (the first time we visited).

It’s easy to make jokes about “largest things in the Southern Hemisphere” but this is in fact an enormous facility.  The entire complex, which includes three hotels (adding up to more than 1500 rooms and suites), numerous restaurants and bars, shopping areas, events areas and a conference centre as well as the casino, measures in at just over 500,000 square metres.

Of course it’s the casino that we are most interested in.  The variety of games played here is as wide as you’ll find anywhere.  Blackjack, several varieties of poker, Roulette, Pai Gow, Craps, Sic Bo and Baccarat are just a selection.  You can play the casino’s special version of Texas Hold’em where you face the dealer in a Heads-Up match or if you’re powers of statistical analysis are on the wane after a long day have a go at Casino War.  The dealer and each player get one card and you win if yours is higher then the dealers.  Easy.  Of course there are also plenty of slot machines and pokies for the fans of those particular pastimes.

Crown’s VIP area is The Mahogany Room and among the wealthy locals and even wealthier Asian tourists you might occasionally encounter poker pro Joe Hachem – this is his local casino.

Anyway there’s one legal place to play your favourite games and that is the Star City Casino, overlooking Darling Harbour in one of the most iconic locations in Australia.

Star City was ready for operation in 1995 and exists under a lease system.  Following the renewal of a 12-year lease in 2008, the owners Tabcorp initiated a fairly extensive investment and building programme which should be completed in 2012.

Compared to some Las Vegas and Asian casinos it’s not enormous but it’s still certainly big.  It features a touch more than 350 hotel rooms which are complemented by what seems like a disproportionately large amount of eateries – there are seven restaurants and five bars – but there are also around 150 private residencies in the complex.

The gaming areas are also fairly extensive – the casino area is spread over two floors and you can indulge in a wide range of table games, electronic slots and poker here.  Poker especially has become a real focus in the past few years and the number of poker-exclusive tables has gradually grown to around 30 currently.

There is a distinct Asian influence here and not just in the restaurants – Pai Gow, Baccarat and Domino games are all catered for here.  VIPs are also well looked after, the Sovereign Room and the Inner Sanctum provide private gaming for the very high rollers.  You also will not be able to bluff your way into these areas – prior applications are necessary to make sure your bank account can cope with the stakes which can range from a mediocre $25.00 to a stratospheric $500,000.

Whichever stakes to decide to play though, you’ll have a fun evening’s entertainment in a great location.