London Club offers James Bond aura

David Strow

Friday, Aug. 18, 2000 | 10:56 a.m.

In many ways, the Aladdin is much like its neighbors along Las Vegas Boulevard -- big, flashy, eye-catching.

But within the huge property is an area unlike anything in Las Vegas, a throwback to the gambling parlors and clubs of the south of France. Of all the places in modern Las Vegas, this is the one place where James Bond, complete with tuxedo and martini, would drop by to play baccarat. The Aladdin's owners hope visitors from both Europe and the Middle East will feel as comfortable playing here.

It's the London Club at Aladdin, the first venture in North America by London's largest casino operator, London Clubs International. It's intended to fit LCI's corporate tagline: "Gaming by Appointment to the World."

At 35,000 square feet, the London Club relies little on gaudiness or attention-grabbing displays, focusing instead of subdued lighting, wood paneling, artwork and dealers dressed in suits or long evening gowns. To ensure the European experience, all dealers in the club have been trained by employees brought in from LCI's six London casinos -- and LCI officials say customer service will be a hallmark of the club.

The 35,000-square-foot complex is so intimate that some areas appear more like a study in a stately English mansion rather than a gaming floor.

"Every reaction we've had from people walking through it is, 'Wow, you really captured Europe,"' said Bill Timmins, president of the Aladdin and director with LCI. "We've catered to Mediterranean influence, with some southern California, Santa Barbara image. This is something that's a little bleeding edge."

Though the London Club is skewed decidedly to the high-end, it isn't meant to replace the traditional high-end product. Aladdin has a separate high-end area, complete with the same 1,001 Arabian Nights theme and $500 slots.

But it's distinctly isolated from the rest of the Aladdin, though the casino is still visible from the windows of this second-story boutique club. Thanks to its location near an elevator bank, guests can walk from reserved valet parking or their suites directly into the casino without ever crossing through the main areas. When taking breaks from gambling, patrons can move to a private dining area and partake from a variety of courses from the London Club's own kitchen.

Perhaps nothing more suggests the elite nature of this club than the gaming tokens -- the London Club features one oversized chip with a face value of $10 million, a value unprecedented anywhere in the world.

While clearly an elegant high-end product, not everyone is convinced it's going to be successful against ferocious competition in Las Vegas. Toughest to overcome, one analyst said, will be MGM MIRAGE, which controls more than one-half the Strip's high-end play with products such as the Mansions at MGM Grand, the Bellagio and the Mirage.

"Mandalay Bay and the Rio are finding how hard that business is when you haven't developed it in the past, and MGM is much more entrenched in that business," said Steve Altman, gaming analyst with Duff & Phelps.

But Timmins is quick to defend the London Club's ability to draw on the high-roller. That's primarily because of the company's experience in Europe -- and LCI's confidence that it can draw its customer base to Las Vegas.

"We hope to bring our client base to Las Vegas," Timmins said. "A lot of them come to Las Vegas (already), but not all of them, particularly from the Middle East. We are known for being successful in that region (the Middle East), and Vegas has not been able to crack that market.

"We cater to a Middle Eastern clientele, and the feedback from them is quite encouraging."

LCI has been working to raise a buzz among its loyal customers in both Europe and the Middle East. Throughout its casinos, the company has held "Aladdin parties" in anticipation of the property's opening, and the Aladdin has been promoted in LCI's customer newsletter. That should translate into an influx of new customers for Las Vegas, Timmins said.

"We're not here to cannibalize the market," he said. "We're here to make the market grow. The European market is something Las Vegas will be wanting."

Certainly, few companies are more experienced in Europe than LCI, founded more than 30 years ago. In London, LCI is akin to MGM MIRAGE on the Las Vegas Strip, holding a 40 percent market share with its six London casinos (including, ironically, a London property called "The Golden Nugget").

In size, however, it is still dwarfed by its Las Vegas counterparts. The company posted revenues of roughly $220 million in its last fiscal year; by comparison, the Bellagio alone recorded about $20 million more in revenues in its first quarter of operations.

Prior to the Aladdin, LCI expanded outward from its London base. Through joint ventures, it now operates two casinos in Egypt, one in South Africa and one in Lebanon. Future expansion plans call for a casino to open next year in the Bahamas.

LCI originally planned to own just 25 percent of the Aladdin, and was to have handled operations of the London Club alone. But liquidity problems faced by the property's majority owner, the Sommer Trust, forced LCI to pony up most of the project's cost overruns. From 1998 until this year, LCI's investment ballooned from $50 million to just under $200 million, while its equity stake rose to 40 percent. To raise funds, LCI was compelled to sell one of its London casinos.

"We didn't want to take more than 25 percent," Timmins said. "We would have been very happy just managing the London Club. But things don't always evolve the way you see them.

"It is a major, major investment for our company. But to say we're betting the future of our company, I wouldn't go that far."

Timmins made it clear that LCI remains interested in further expansion in the North American market -- but he remained mum on where the next London Club might be.

"Yes, we are looking at other areas ... but I'm not telling you (where)," Timmins said. "Right now, our total effort is concentrated on getting the Aladdin open."