San Diego casino called competition for Strip high-rollers

Friday, Sept. 27, 2002 | 11:07 a.m.

The effort to legalize private gambling salons for high-limit players helps Nevada casinos more effectively compete against destination resorts in Macau, the Philippines and other regions that offer gambling rooms for the wealthy out of the public eye, regulators say.

Yet it was a casino only a few hours from Las Vegas that a Nevada regulator cited Thursday as a formidable competitor to local casinos' recently proposed private salons.

The Barona tribal casino in San Diego, based on the success of its existing private salon, is building two additional private spaces of more than 3,000 square feet each, Nevada Gaming Commission member Arthur Marshall said at a commission meeting in Las Vegas.

Those spaces dwarf the private salons that MGM MIRAGE and Park Place Entertainment Corp. have recently launched at two of their Las Vegas Strip casino resorts, Marshall said.

"We have our job cut out for us," he said at the meeting.

Thursday, commissioners approved a proposal by Park Place to offer a private salon in its Caesars Palace casino.

The salon consists of four separate rooms with doors that will be left open for public access most of the year.

Caesars Palace executives said Thursday that they aren't yet able to quantify either the number of customers or the potential revenue that the rooms could generate.

Regulators in recent years developed regulations authorizing private salons as a means of improving competition for local casinos and increasing state tax revenues.

The rooms are expected to draw both new customers who won't play in public areas and those who wouldn't normally come to Las Vegas, executives said. The company also expects to draw gamblers who already come to Las Vegas but aspire to play in more private quarters. Park Place maintains marketing offices throughout Asia, the biggest potential target market for the private salons, officials said.

MGM MIRAGE recently received commission approval for a private gambling salon at its MGM Grand casino.