The casino industry isn’t what it used to be, and we mean that as a compliment. The look and feel of casinos had begun to become a little stale as the 20th century gave way to the 21st. The world’s biggest casinos were a little stuffy in their approach, still expecting guests to show up in tuxedos and dresses to sit at their tables, and there hadn’t been any sign of modernization within the industry in decades. Then, the internet came along and changed the entire industry beyond all recognition.
When the first online slots websites appeared on the internet, even the world’s most well-established casinos and casino companies faced competition of a kind they’d never encountered before.
Online slots websites could undercut physical casinos on price because they had lower overheads. The range of attractions on offer at a good online slots website like Rose Slots outdid anything that a ‘real’ casino could offer because they weren’t limited by floor space. Convenience became a factor, too. Faced with a choice between getting dressed up and going out in search of a physical casino or staying indoors and playing slots UK from the comfort of their own homes, gamblers started migrating toward the latter option in huge numbers. Casino companies had to respond somehow – and so they have.
As they generally can’t compete with online slots websites in terms of promotions or options, real-world casinos have started to compete in the category of luxury instead. The world’s biggest and most attractive casinos now cost billions of dollars to build, feature cutting-edge modern architecture, and offer luxury entertainment and facilities that could barely have been dreamed of twenty years ago. To show you what we mean, here are the five most luxurious casinos on the planet.
1. Wynn – Las Vegas, Nevada, USA
The name ‘Steve Wynn’ is synonymous with casinos in Las Vegas. He’s bought, sold, built, and renovated many casinos during his long career, but the one that bears his name in the world’s most famous gambling resort is the jewel in the crown of his empire. It cost him an estimated $3.3bn to design and build it, and you can see almost every dollar of that spend when you look at the casino. The venue comes with more than eighteen thousand square meters of casino floors, and that’s only half the story.
There are also 2700 hotel rooms across the building’s 45 floors, making it not only one of the world’s most prestigious casinos but also one of its most prestigious hotels. Its flagship restaurant has five Michelin stars. The hotel is five-star rated by Forbes. The casino is five-star rated. There’s opulence here everywhere you look – and there’s a lot to look at.
2. The Cosmopolitan – Las Vegas, Nevada, USA
When the Cosmopolitan opened in Sin City in November 2010, it set a new benchmark for casinos in the area. Just under four billion dollars went into its design and construction, and let to it being named as the world’s most luxurious hotel in 2013. It’s been purchased by the Blackstone Group in recent years, but they’ve wisely decided to change almost nothing about the way the casino business operates. As enormous as the Cosmopolitan is, you can’t see all of it from street level. There’s also an enormous underground parking facility which has to be seen to be believed. It’s a wonder that the entire building doesn’t collapse into the vast cavern beneath its bottom floor, so the engineers responsible for it ought to be congratulated.
3. The Venetian – Macao
While Las Vegas might be the most well-known gambling hotspot on the planet, it isn’t the only one. Macao appears to have more to offer every year, and its version of the Venetian – which cost a little over three billion dollars to put together – is arguably better than the American original. Aside from being a five-star luxury casino, it’s also the world’s biggest, with over fifty thousand square meters of casino floor space. That includes eight hundred tables and more than three thousand slots, above which you’ll find 38 stories of hotel rooms with a capacity of three thousand.
Aside from being a great place to come and gamble in luxury, this is also a great place to catch a show because of its 15,000-seater indoor arena. The Macao Venetian opened for the first time in 2007, making it one of the world’s first large-scale casinos to open after the advent of online slots.
4. Resorts World Sentosa, Singapore
You’ve probably heard of the Genting Group. There might even be a Genting casino in your home town or city. If there is, we sincerely doubt it can hold a candle to this palatial building in Singapore. The colossal site on the country’s south coast is so large that it could almost be classed as a town in its own right, encompassing a Univeral Studios theme park and seven different world-class hotels, along with the second biggest oceanarium in the world.
If you think that all the other attractions make the luxury casino a side-show, you’d be wrong. It still finds room for fifteen thousand square meters of gaming floor and a peerless range of fine dining options. Then again, what else should you expect from a resort that cost five billion dollars to put together?
5. Marina Bay Sands, Singapore
As impressive as Resorts World Sentosa is, it’s not even the most luxurious casino in Singapore. That goes to Marina Bay Sands, which is also our pick for the most luxurious casino in the world. It cost just under six billion dollars to build it, which also makes it the world’s most expensive to date. Marina Bay Sands is an architectural wonder, made of three separate towers connected by a long, thin, bullet train-like structure that runs along the top and contains the world’s biggest infinity pool.
You have to be brave to swim all the way along with it, though – the top end overhangs one of the towers, leaving you suspended in the air above the city! Even though it’s nine years old, nothing has been opened in the near-decade since that can rival this jaw-dropping resort in terms of luxury, opulence, or sheer style. If you’re a gambler with a big-money budget and you’re looking for somewhere truly special to spend your money, you won’t find anywhere better than this.
