It may take someone like George Maloof, who operates the Playboy Casino at the plush Palms Hotel in Las Vegas, to get past the new UK Gambling Commission and get a casino licence in London, more than 27 years after the company was booted out by the old Gaming Commission of Great Britain “over suspected gambling irregularities, despite no subsequent evidence of wrongdoing.”

In London, the Playboy Club boasted a media-crazy high profile at its Mayfair Park Lane corner building, once again unoccupied, for thousands of keyclub holders, while in the aristocratic Clermont Club in Berkley Square, just around the corner, multi millionaire high rollers serenely enjoyed the company of movie legends like ex 007 Roger Moore, Jack Nicholson, Steve McQueen and others. More modestly, two other Playboy Clubs operated in the cities of Manchester and Portsmouth, although with enough glitz to lighten up even their grey winter nights.

The Playboy Club could re-open in 2010 to offer gaming at roulette wheels, blackjack tables and slot machines, while guests dine on everything from hamburgers to haute cuisine and dance to music played by leading European DJs. Indeed, it was the Playboy disco in Park Lane that eventually inspired New York’s Studio 54.

Dick Rosenzweig, executive vice-president of Playboy and President Hugh Hefner's right-hand man, said: "We are looking for opportunities around the world. London will be logical for us. We had some very good years there." The most likely British site is the Sports Cafe on Haymarket in London's West End, which showed sporting events on giant screens for more than a decade.

According to reports, Playboy has allegedly signed an agreement with Agilo, the London hedge fund that owns the Haymarket café, which will file a gambling application under existing rules. At its peak, the London Playboy club employed 600 Bunnies at any time, working in three shifts, seven days a week, and casino graduates from the Playboy academies have been influential in developing sound gaming operations worldwide. (S-07.14.08)

© Copyright 2008 CasinoCompendium



>>> return to archives
>>> return to frontpage