We'll pick up where we left off yesterday, which was with Las Vegas Sands' "Flying Casino" and Steve Wynn's decision not to follow suit with anything similar from what was then MGM Mirage and Sir Richard Branson's abandonment of any similar plans for Virgin.
It was another European airline, Ryanair, that seemed to be the next likely contender to offer in-flight gambling, when notorious headline-grabber and CEO Michael O’Leary started toying with the idea back in 2004, proclaiming at the time that he believed it was only a matter of time before revenues from in-flight gambling would render airfares obsolete. Note that this was the same airline CEO who has also, over the years, publicly mused on concepts including 'pay to pee' on-board toilets, in-flight porn, 'standing-room-only' sections on his Boeing 737s, and 'pay what you weigh' (actually, we're kinda down with that last one!), and it's not such a surprise that although he reiterated his interest in introducing in-flight gambling last year, it's as yet to progress any further than the odd headline, as far as we know.
However, O'Leary's vision went beyond merely offering on-board gambling. Check out this reportage, courtesy of travelindustrytoday.com:
"While the in-flight version is still blocked by a lot of outdated international laws, he has discovered that there’s nothing to stop him from doing it on the ground: so, with a surprisingly (by O’Leary standards) limited amount of fanfare, Ryanair announced a 'strategic alliance' with Dublin-based online gaming provider '888 Holdings'.
"This is where it gets really clever. Ryanair and 888 plan to leverage the discount carrier’s website and its more than 1.4 million average daily hits, by offering a chance to win a future flight voucher. To play along one simply has to agree to add another couple of pounds to the price of your ticket transaction. Sounds like a worthwhile gamble no? Well maybe. After accepting the terms of the deal you will then be asked to answer a 'simple general knowledge' question.
"So that’s when you win your ticket? Well not quite! If you get the answer correct, as most people who are online at the time will most likely do, the resulting 'prize' is that your name will be entered into a drawing for the tickets. And the odds of winning are what? Well, 'long' would seem to be the easy answer, as only three lucky winners will be selected per week."
This coverage from March of last year is the last we read of either of Mr O'Leary's ideas and, since 888 Holdings currently would seem to have much bigger fish to fry, again we ain't holding our breath for this one (nor would we anticipate favorable odds from Mr Ryanair, should this particular gamble ever come to fruition).
The only other recent foray into in-flight gambling that we're aware of comprised a joint venture from two French aviation design studios that seemed to take Las Vegas Sands' slightly dated looking 'Flying Casino' concept and funk it up with some cool retro-style furniture.
In 2013, Jean-Pierre Alfano of AirJet Designs and Frédérique Houssard, founder of Designescence, teamed up to create the Casino Jet Lounge, a luxury bar-cum-casino concept they hoped would one day become standard on long-haul commercial flights, with the noble concept of "trying to bring back the glamor of the '50s and '60s a little bit; the kind you see in the James Bond movies," which we're all for. However, we haven't heard any word of their initial talks with "various airlines" yet amounting to any in-flight blackjack for regular travelers so, to the best of our knowledge, the high-roller-only Flying Casino described in yesterday's QoD is the sole extant airborne-casino option. If anyone out there knows differently, please let us know.
