LAS VEGAS CASINO JUST FOR THE CHINESE

China, right? Land of simple peasant farmers and poor but happy factory workers? Well, Las Vegas has built these schmoes their own gambling casino. The Lucky Dragon Hotel & Casino is Las Vegas’ first Asian-themed resort, funded in large part by Chinese investors. The property, set to open Dec. 3, will offer bilingual staff and signage, a luxury tea bar and a host of restaurants with food that wouldn’t look or taste out of place in Guangzhou or Shanghai.
– The rose-colored resort’s front entrance is designed in a dragon motif.
– A feng shui master blessed its kitchens.
– The main bar is eight-sided for good fortune.
– There are no number 4’s on the property. 4 is an unlucky digit to the Chinese. It won’t be on any room numbers or in the phone directory. The nine-story hotel even skips a fourth floor.
A record 206,743 visitors from China traveled to Las Vegas last year, according to the Las Vegas Convention and Visitors Authority. Other Las Vegas casinos already cater to China’s high rollers with VIP parlors, but Lucky Dragon, though a smaller casino and hotel, addresses what investors see as a gap in the market: middle-class Chinese gamblers, Chinese Americans as well as the broader Asian American community.
* Is that what you want when you travel to another country? To feel like you never left home?
* “Look at the dinner menu! More of that Guangzhou and Shanghai crap!”
* “Lucky Dragon.” How subtle.
* I say great idea. We’ll have that balance of trade deficit turned around in weeks.
* I did not know the thing about the Chinese and the number 4. So what do they call fortune cookies? Get it? 4…tune cookies.
* The NFL better not expand to China. They can only watch the first 3 quarters of football games.