Before Lucky Dragon opened over the weekend, the last casino to open that was built from scratch was the Cosmopolitan. That hotel and casino opened way back in 2010. Sure SLS Las Vegas, Downtown Grand, and The Cromwell have opened since then, but they were built using the bones of the Sahara, Lady Luck (NAME) and Bill’s Gamblin’ Hall respectively.
While any new casino opening is exciting, there’s something about being one of the first people in a freshly constructed building that feels authentic. In a way, that’s true since the new casino wasn’t built using a floor plan that may have been reconfigured but designed for someone else. By the time I walk into Lucky Dragon hotel and casino only a few thousand people will have walked the property before me.
Lucky Dragon is a niche casino built for a specific kind of customer (learn more from this preview). Chances are good that Lucky Dragon wasn’t built specifically for you. It wasn’t built with my preferences in mind either. Lucky Dragon doesn’t have a sports book, craps game, poker room, cafe or American restaurant or anything that we’d expect in a typical casino casino. This isn’t the casino of my dreams and that’s what I’m looking forward to exploring.
Lucky Dragon has a very heavy Asian theme and is intended to attract Asian customers. There are only a handful of blackjack tables. The majority of table games are baccarat, which is the game of preference for Asian gamblers. All five of the restaurants are Asian themed. There’s a tea garden instead of a craft beer garden. The building is rich with red and all of the hotel rooms have prices ending with the lucky number “8.” In fact, my preview room was $88.
The grand opening for Lucky Dragon isn’t until December 3rd. However, the casino had a soft opening last weekend. The entire property isn’t ready for all customers yet. Some of the restaurants aren’t open yet and not everything on sight is finished. Regardless, I’m looking forward to seeing what the casino and hotel have to offer. Preview photos look fantastic.
Over the next couple of weeks, I’ll be writing a handful of articles about Lucky Dragon for TravelZork. My goal is to look at just about every angle of Lucky Dragon. I’ll review the hotel room, casino, players club, restaurants, and more. Follow along on twitter as there will be a bunch of photos. I’ll only share the best pictures in the articles. As you might expect, early comments have been positive. Every business puts its best foot forward when a business first opens. We’ll see if they get complacent after being softly open for a few days.
Marc grew up on the mean streets of the South Bronx. He's the rare combination of Yankees and Jets fan which explains his often contrarian point of view. He learned about gambling at a young age working down the street from a bookie who took action on anything from the mainstream sports to the last three digits of the purse for certain horse races. Yeah, that's a thing. Today Marc is a freelance writer and social media consultant which allows him to work anywhere there's a wifi signal. This allows him to work from the sportsbook at Red Rock Resort or the food court at The Venetian where you’ll find fast and free wifi. Writing about steak, booze, gambling and Las Vegas is a tough job but somebody has to do it.
