Yes, there has, and we're not just talking about in-flight recreational poker on your Virgin Atlantic flight. It's all a little nebulous (pun fully intended), and more than one operator (both aviation- and casino-wise) has considered the concept, but rarely has the idea gotten off the ground (sorry, couldn't resist!). Here's what we discovered.
The pioneer appears to have been Singapore Airlines which, in 1981, introduced a few "lightweight" slot machines to a route that operated between home base and San Francisco, but the experiment lasted only two months after the machines proved to pose "an operational challenge" and were removed.
The next experiment we're aware of came in the 1990s from Swissair, which installed in-flight software that allowed passengers to bet up to $350 on a variety of casino games, including blackjack, poker, and keno. However, when Swissair Flight 111 crashed off Nova Scotia in 1998, investigators traced the cause of the accident to a fire that started in the entertainment system, so another experiment instantly bit the dust and other carriers, who'd been poised to introduce on-board gaming, quickly abandoned the idea.
Then, in 2005, flamboyant British entrepreneur Richard Branson, whose Virgin brand has long been known for its in-flight entertainment, announced that there would soon "be two ways to get lucky" on some of his fleet's planes, as he planned to introduce both double beds and gambling to a recently purchased group of Airbus A380 double-deck jet airliners. There was evidently a change of heart soon after Branson made the announcement to the New York Times, however, and while today Virgin Atlantic's typical in-flight "gaming" options include Texas hold'em and blackjack, these games are of a purely recreational nature, like the Battleship and Sudoku also offered via the entertainment consoles, i.e., it's "gaming" as the rest of the world knows it and not in the euphemistic sense applied by the U.S. to casino gambling.
The next instance of in-flight gambling, for real, that we're aware of dates back to 2007, when Las Vegas Sands CEO Sheldon Adelson hired Edése Doret Industrial Design of New York to customize a Lockheed L1011-500 into what the company billed as the first "Flying Casino." The special plane was intended to transport high rolling gamblers from Asia, and other parts of the world, to Las Vegas Sands' various resort-casinos in Las Vegas, Macau and, from 2010, Singapore*, and this version of in-flight gaming represented a definite departure from prior forays.
The plane, originally designed to accommodate 400 passengers, had previously been operated by an unspecified "Middle Eastern Royal Family" and already contained a VIP interior with master bedroom, lavatory (with shower), lounge, dining area, and a "high density" seating area. The latter was upgraded into a large game room, lined with silk panels, that accommodated three baccarat tables (with live dealers, obviously), plus 12 guests/gamblers. Even security cameras were fitted "to offer peace of mind to mend a potential dispute," according to the design company's quaint spin. But that's not all: For those passengers who still found the main in-flight casino to be too public, Edése Doret installed a private game room with a single baccarat table designed for two players only. Stressful day at the mile-high hi-limit tables? The plane was fitted with a massage room that boasted "the ambience of a modern day spa" and the Aft Lounge, which comfortably seated 10 guests. The Flying Casino also boasted a passenger-to-crew ratio of 22:21.
As the Las Vegas Sun's gaming columnist at the time, Liz Benston, wrote: "The earnings potential for high-altitude gambling, untapped for now, is immense. Because transoceanic flights operate in international airspace, there’s no government to regulate the games or collect taxes ... Adelson’s Las Vegas Sands Corp., which expects to begin in-flight gambling soon after purchasing two* Lockheed wide-bodied jets, is benefiting from an exception to a U.S. law that tightly restricts gambling on aircraft."
The article goes on to explain how, "In 1994 Congress amended a law that regulates the transportation of gambling devices in the United States by specifically prohibiting the operation of gambling devices on flights into and out of the country. The amendment came as foreign airlines were beginning to offer gambling on flights outside of the country as well as on flights destined for the United States. [However,] the Federal Aviation Administration says the law effectively excludes private aircraft and charter flights from the gambling ban."
Also, the 1994 legal amendment applied to electric or mechanical gambling games, not table games, so the FAA was apparently cool with the concept of the Flying Casino, as was the Nevada State Gaming Control Board, with some provisos. Then Board Chairman Dennis Neilander explained that gambling on board aircraft fell under the state’s "foreign gaming" law, which applies to gambling activities offered by Nevada companies outside of the state and under which Nevada casino operators are required to submit annual reports to their home state authorities to demonstrate that proper auditing and surveillance procedures are in place, in addition to similarly abiding by any gambling laws and regulations in effect in other states or countries that the flights operate into/out of.
Rival casino entrepreneur Steve Wynn, who was still at the helm of the MGM Mirage group at the time, was less convinced, however, and apparently briefly considered the idea but rejected it both on the grounds of its questionable legality, as well as for other reasons that were acknowledged, but not disclosed, by the company.
*We're unclear as to how many of these planes were purchased and customized, since Edése Doret's site includes a 2011 press release that describes only one, as does their Facebook page. While we're unsure as to whether the Flying Casino is still in operation, that same release also mentions Singapore, where Las Vegas Sands only debuted a casino in 2010, so we conclude that the plane was still operating at that juncture and, hence, is likely still be in use today.
So concludes Part I of QoD's history of in-flight gambling; tune in tomorrow for the concluding episode -- yes, there's more! -- with pictures.
