Question of the Day - 09 September 2014

Actually, there are very few such examples that we can think of. The list that follows does not include the semi-separate high-limit gaming areas, which many casinos maintain for their high rollers but which are still part of the main casino floor and accessible to anyone, even if they are designed to feel somewhat private and removed.

Also omitted are the European-style salons privés that take this concept to a higher level. Finally approved by Nevada gaming regulators back in 2001, these inner sanctums were permitted in answer to pleas from the big players on the Strip (Caesars, Mandalay Bay, Venetian, Bellagio, Wynn, and Aria), who claimed they needed to cater to high rollers by providing the same exclusive experience and privacy afforded in Europe's more boutique gaming establishments (see QoD 2/25/2014). These facilities may be curtained off from the general public, or even be located behind closed doors on an entirely different level of the building than the main casino floor, and open by invitation only to qualifying (i.e., extremely wealthy) guests, but they are still operated by and branded for the parent casino, with the same rules etc.

What follows, therefore, is a list of those odd anomalies we can think of that don't fit into either of these categories:

• When the new Aladdin debuted in the summer of 2000 on the site of the old Aladdin (and what is now Planet Hollywood), its mezzanine floor featured the 35,000-square-foot London Club, a separate European-style gaming salon operated by what was then UK-owned London Clubs International. It featured 15,000 square feet of casino, which offered 30 high-limit table games including baccarat, roulette, and blackjack, 100 high-denomination slot machines, plus a private lobby and dedicated elevator service, a 120-seat five-star restaurant, and a private reception room, lounge, and garden area. Unlike any other modern-day Las Vegas casino, a dress code ("smart casual") was enforced. Originally a minor partner in this ill-fated Strip resort-casino enterprise, London Clubs found itself having to bail out the bankrupt Aladdin to the tune of a 40 percent stake -- a move that ultimately saw a struggling LCI taken over by Harrah's following the exit of the company chairman due to ill health attributed to stress. The London Club in Las Vegas closed in 2003 along with its Aladdin host casino.

• There once were plans for a whole Playboy-themed resort-casino on the site of what is now the Cosmopolitan, but in the end this idea never translated to more than a mini casino/nightclub at the top of the Palms' Fantasy Tower. The first official Playboy Club in the United States since 1988, it opened in October 2006 and offered a handful of blackjack and roulette tables with "Bunny" dealers (suitable models were chosen and then taught how to deal cards, as opposed to the other way around). The club, which also featured a small dance floor, was notable as being among the first spaces to negotiate a waiver permitting a cover charge to be levied for a venue offering what normally must be "wide open" (i.e., open to all) gambling in this state. A victim of the Great Recession that hit Vegas hard in general and whacked the Palms in particular, the Playboy Club closed in June 2012.

• Mandalay Bay has been an unconventional property since the get-go, with its hotel-within-a-hotel deal with Four Seasons and a similar relationship with House of Blues, not to mention the odd non-gaming tower that was THEhotel and is now The Delano. Always justly famed for its 11-acre pool complex, when the whole "daylife" scene kicked off with a vengeance MBay upped the ante by debuting the separate and totally self-contained Beachside Casino. A three-level climate-controlled facility, this casino is open seasonally only and features its own restaurant, cabanas, and a private pool. The opposite of the London or Playboy clubs, where elegant attire was encouraged, here the dealers sport bikinis and flip flops and guests (at least the female ones) are encouraged to do likewise.

• At the total opposite end of the spectrum from any high-end private gaming salon is O'Sheas. Originally a hotel-less entity unto itself on the Strip, when the whole LINQ redevelopment got underway this Irish-themed drinking den, infamous for its beer pong, cheap liquor, and leprechaun mascot, was so popular that although the original property was entirely subsumed and repurposed, a space was reserved inside its remodeled Imperial Palace neighbor to house a mini O'Sheas. That space, we have been assured, will still be preserved even after what is now the Quad undergoes yet another reincarnation, to emerge later this year as the even-more-upscale LINQ hotel.

Those are the only four examples we can think of when it comes to distinct separate casino entities housed on-property at a Las Vegas resort. If we're missing something (and we have a sneaky suspicion that we are), please drop us a line.

There's a new kid on the block since we first penned this answer, following the debut, inside SLS Las Vegas (the former Sahara) of "Bazaar Casino," adjacent to José Andrés' Bazaar Meat, which is Las Vegas’ only casino offering food and beverage by a James Beard award-winning chef. The mini casino offers blackjack and roulette tables, a bar, and dining tables. 09/09/2014 Doh! We knew we were forgetting something, so thanks to the readers who wrote in querying whether Jimmy Buffett's Margaritaville Casino at the Flamingo qualifies to be included on this list. Yes, of course it does -- it couldn't be more qualified -- we just totally forgot about it! The "Five o'Clock Somewhere" singer was present for the debut of his first casino on October 14, 2011, an event which was -- naturally -- celebrated by pouring the largest-ever margarita (as verified by the Guinness Book of World Records). Buffett even successfully passed the process of obtaining a Nevada gaming license. Here's what Anthony Curtis wrote about the joint in LVA when he visited soon after opening: "It's bright and shiny and plays cool music and has really cute cocktail waitresses that attend to 22 tables, 220 machines, and the 5 O’Clock Somewhere Bar (named for the Jimmy Buffet song). The area is accessible directly from the Strip, and it connects to a big logo store and the reasonably good Margaritaville restaurant. I liked it as I walked in. I hated it as I left. The reason for the change of heart was the games ... This place has some of the most brutal rules in town ... Already bugged by the rules, I pulled up to the bar to try—what else in a place called Margaritaville?—a margarita. The bartender brought me a drink in a plastic cup and a bill for $10. Really? Ten bones?" As to the SpaceQuest Casino at the former Las Vegas Hilton, we considered this, along with the likes of the Pussycat Dolls pit at Caesars, and there's a case for adding these to the list, for sure, but we're leaning to the point of view that they're better thought of as elaborate themed forerunners of the whole "party pit" concept, as opposed to being distinct casinos in their own right. It's a close call, however.