Month: January 2017

I visited Du Liban Casino in autumn of 2016. It seemed to me that Lebanon at that time didn’t experience the best time, there was a war at its neighbors that affected this country as well. Despite the fact that Beirut was a relatively safe place, European tourists didn’t feel quite comfortable here.

There was only one casino in Lebanon for a long time and it seemed to me that it would be something like Monte Carlo, only in the Arab world. I was somewhat mistaken. The casino opened in the 80s of the XX century and has never been renovated since then, as it seemed to me.

The casino was 20 kilometers away from Beirut, the capital of Lebanon, and one could get there only by taxi or by car. I like to walk, especially in new places, and like to search for casinos in the city, just like doing a quest. I had to hire a driver with a car in Lebanon who was waiting for me all the time I was in the casino.

Yes, the casino is located in a picturesque place where the city fits in the urban landscape and touches on the azure smooth surface of the Mediterranean Sea. There are stunning views! But Casino Du Liban seemed grey and unsightly at the background of all this nature. Not at all photogenic, more like a factory or a farm.

Armed soldiers stopped us before we reached the casino and checked my passport and the driver’s one. Several soldiers also stood right at the entrance of the casino. They checked our passports again. Amid the gray building of the casino it already seemed that we found ourselves at a secret facility. I realized the troops guarded the casino from terrorists but the entire atmosphere was quite oppressive due to it. Finally, it turned out that it was not allowed to take photos of Casino Du Liban! Not inside, but outside! I learnt about it from one of the soldiers once I tried to take several photos near him. He demanded that I should delete photos in his presence. I did a trick and did not delete all photos. I wonder if I risked my freedom doing so. 🙂

I managed to take some good photos, including the casino employee who drinks coffee during a break from work.

Inside Casino Du Liban corresponded to its external appearance. Large premises were poorly equipped; there was no gloss and design as such. One feels void there. I’m sure that some time before Casino Du Liban was one of the most interesting places in the Middle East but its best days are far behind. Despite it, Arabs continued to play excitedly and did not notice that it was already the 21 century while their casino remained in the 20 century. I myself did not play in the casino; I only bought a few chips for the collection and went to explore other places of interest of Lebanon.

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I came to Kenya for safari. To have a look at elephants, giraffes, zebras, cheetahs and many other animals in the wild, it was an unforgettable experience. But I also had time to go for casinos of the capital of Kenya, Nairobi. I ordered a car with a driver in the hotel for the whole day. When we drove to the right address where Aces Casino was, it was dark. And my driver, a black guy named Billy, didn’t want to stop the engine. It was the center of the city but it was the time when it was better not to appear in this center in the street. But the spirit of adventure still forced me to go to Aces Casino.

I sat at the blackjack table in a dark room and started playing. Some guy sat next to me, then another one. And after a while it was quite crowded at the table. Kenyans joked among themselves, spoke swear words and, it seemed to me, tried to test me, they were interested in what I was doing in this tenderloin place. And the place was really tenderloin. Actually, it was a time worn casino about which they say “hell hole”. Everything in it testified to the criminal world I was in.

My task was simple, to inconspicuously (Hah! Being constantly observed by a dozen of eyes of players and the staff) take chips for my collection and RUN away. And when some black guy, sitting next to me at the table, actually leaned on me embracing my shoulders with his mighty hand, I was ready, I jumped up and quickly walked out of Aces Casino! That’s the kind of experience that I do not want to repeat. Although … For the sake of chips, I’ll do it again, if need be. This time I got it, I had several chips from Aces Casino for my collection.

Maybe the central casino in the capital of the Philippines, City of Dreams by scale lagged behind its senior brother located in Macau. Yet, for Manila, it’s an ambitious project pleasant to play and rest in. Every time I was in Manila I tried to visit City of Dreams Casino. The casino is well located near the airport and the city’s center, no problem to drive to by car. First of all, I was very glad that City of Dreams Casino provided a chance to play craps and other games exotic to a European. Moreover, with regard to craps, it wasn’t an empty table, bones constantly flew in City of Dreams.

As for chips of City of Dreams Casino, surely, they were not my best gain. Yet, chips sparkling in rays of electric bulbs very nicely look on the table of the casino, really amazing!

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Fontana Leisure Parks & Casino is a large fenced area with villas, a hotel, a water park, and other entertainments. When I came in there through the main entrance I told the guard that I wanted to play at the casino. He wished me luck. And on the way back he asked if I was successful in my playing. Oh, I need to admit that I didn’t play.

The first thing that catches you eye in Fontana Casino is that it is a part of the chain with Jai Alai Casino in Macau, the gambling capital of the world. All posters and videos informed about it bringing to the attention of guests that Fontana Casino adheres to the level of Macau gambling houses. But I wasn’t impressed given that in Macau Jai Alai Casino is not at all a leader.

In Fontana Casino I started walking around the tables looking what chips I could get my hands on. So, standing by the baccarat table, I saw a casino employee of an apparent European appearance come to me and stare at me.

‘Hello!’ I said in Russian, and her eyes widened.

‘Do you understand? …,’ the girl asked. ‘Do you speak Russian?’

She was clearly taken aback by such a meeting. We introduced each other. The girl’s name was Sofia and she recently came to the Philippines from Ukraine to work as a gaming manager. We had a nice chat and Sofia told me that the casino had several halls each of them using its own chips. Fontana Casino actively attracts players in junket. Mainly, these are guests from Taiwan. And also from China, Korea, Hong Kong. Sofia was so kind that when she learnt that I collected chips she helped me to buy chips right at the table. As I understood, in Fontana Casino there are also chips in Taiwanese dollars but they wouldn’t sell them to me. We agreed to meet in Facebook, but, perhaps, I incorrectly wrote her name. I couldn’t find Sofia in social networks.

It’s always pleasant to meet a person who speaks the same language as you while you’re far away from home. Thank Fontana Casino for it.

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Clark Freeport Zone is a former US military base which was upgraded into a special economic area with a possibility to open a casino here. Therefore, 5 good level casinos operated in Clark at the time of my visit. All located in hotels. One of the most sumptuous hotels is Stotsenberg Hotel. Casablanca was located there. However, the casino was not as sumptuous as the hotel itself. I noted some discrepancy of the design, clearly Chinese motifs and ceilings with episodes from the cult American film “Casablanca”. Perhaps, the Casablanca Casino owners originally wanted to attract Americans inside playing sentimental feelings for the Hollywood film (by the way, its action unfolds in Morocco, actually far away from the theme of Asia). But later they realized that 90% of all guests are Chinese, Taiwanese and Koreans and began to introduce elements of Asia in decoration of its institution. If you ask me, it’s an absolute mess. Casablanca Casino in Clark Country in the Philippines wins the rating of casinos with the clumsiest styling. I wasn’t in Casablanca Casino for a long time to notice something else of interest. I only made a few bets and took chips for the collection.

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Midori Casino is located in Clark County of the city of Angeles in the Philippines. I visited this place, just as other casinos in its vicinity, in autumn of 2016. I remembered Midori mostly because the entire casino was filled only by tables to play baccarat. Only one roulette table and one table for the game where your win depends on three dice placed in a special vessel somehow made the difference. I tried to play this funny game resembling Sic Bo to me. I made a couple of bets and then, surely, I started playing roulette. So much as the minimum roulette bet was only 10 pesos (about 20 cents). I wasn’t in Midori Casino for a long time but I will always remember its roulette as something bright, colorful, noisy, and full of gamblers. Non-standard chips were used there; the nominal value was inscribed on each of them. Actually, it was 10 pesos in cash each used in roulette. It was in different colors. I took bright pink chips and could not resist the temptation to take a couple of chips for memory. I know it’s bad to steal roulette chips. But I did it. Okay, I did even more; I went to Midori Casino the next day and took chips of a different color. Again, I stole some for my collection. Yes, yes, it’s very bad to steal roulette chips, but I visited the place for the third time! I sincerely hoped that Madori Casino administration knew what it did and they had a large stock of such chips. I have seen nowhere else in the world roulette played with such chips and I… No, I haven’t been there anymore. So far, I haven’t been there…

I visited Widus Casino in Clark County in the Philippines in October 2016. At that time 5 casinos operated in the city of Angeles and Widus was among the leaders. It was a large park casino where, apart from hundreds of slot machines, about 15 or more gaming tables with various games were installed. I remembered this casino because here I for the first time tried to play the so-called Lunar Poker. A helpful dealer with a Philippine player explained to me for a long time the rules of this painfully familiar game. In fact, Lunar Poker is a modified version of the game called the Russian Poker which for the first time appeared in Moscow casino Europa Club in 2004. The Russian Poker game became so popular all over Russia and former USSR countries that it replaced all other types of the poker. But it wasn’t licensed. As far as I know, the American company borrowed the idea, changed the name and is now selling this game as its own development.

I outplayed Widus Casino in the Lunar Poker. Probably, it was the result of the years spent in Russia playing the Russian Poker and the player’s potential gained in that way. Surely, I also won the roulette.

Another interesting aspect which I noted in Widus Casino is a large inscription Cashier which was visible from everywhere from gaming tables. I met such obsessive positioning for the first time. As a rule, casinos try to hide access to the cash desk. Search for the cash desk in Macao and Las Vegas Casinos may be compared to a quest for treasures when you find on your way either one-armed bandits or the tables for roulette and blackjack. While in Widus Casino such conspicuous inscription sort of spurs you: “Hey, buddy, if you win it’s time to flee the casino!” And I did so taking with me chips from Widus Casino for the collection.

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Not every traveler may get to the Indian state of Sikkim located in the highlands of India somewhere between Bhutan and Nepal. Yet, Sikkim is a special economic area and, apart from the wonderful nature, fresh air and the heritage of the ancient kingdom, there are legal casinos here. Rich Indians come into the mountains from New Delhi, Calcutta and other cities to take a break from the heat in the cool area at an altitude of over 1,400 meters. In early 2016, there were two casinos to entertain Indian elite in Gangtok, the capital of Sikkim. As a part of my tour of India, I visited this wonderful place and both casinos, Royal Plaza and Mahjong. I don’t quite remember the first one, although, it was the first casino in Sikkim operating here for 7 years. It was repaired and re-branded at the time of my visit, as I understood, before the casino had the same name as the state, Sikkim. As for Mahjong located in Mayfair Hotel, it was a relatively new casino with a good level not lagging behind the casino of Goa state where I had been before. Mahjong Casino even had the table for Poker Texas; however, during the entire time of visit, nobody ever played the game.

I remember quite well the first day when I came to Mahjong, it turned out that one had to produce not only the passport but a special permit to visit Sikkim to enter the casino. And I left it in the room of my hotel. I asked ladies from the reception to give me a car to go to the hotel and get back to the casino. The called the manager and he agreed. I drove to my hotel very quickly, took the permit, and returned to the casino. I played various games and took several chips for memory. But when I got back to my hotel at night in the car kindly provided by the casino, it turned out that the hotel was closed for the night and everybody was long asleep. I tried to knock to the staff but nobody answered. I was already thinking that I would have to spend the night in an empty street, however, my buddy who lived in the same hotel somehow managed to help me and woke up the staff. They opened the door for me. Of course, the casino in Sikkim is not the one worth going to but I got an extra fun playing in Mahjong Casino in Gangtok.

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Premiere Casino in St. Petersburg was one of the best gambling institutions of the northern capital of the Russian Federation. I visited this casino several times during my business trips related to journalism in 2004-2009. At that time I visited about five casinos a day and Premiere Casino was always on my mandatory list. I remember strange, pre-revolutionary layout of this historical building at the intersection of Nevskiy and Vladmirskiy avenues in the heart of St. Petersburg. I remember the VIP lounge named Incognito; remember a white piano and the main staircase. I remember the friendly staff and courteous management of the casino.

Of course, I took chips for my collection in Premiere but their nominal value was low. During the entire time of its operation, the casino played only for Russian rubles. Accordingly, chips were nominated only in rubles. These were good chips but I found the real treasure only years after the casino had been closed. In 2016, my friend Pavel Aleksanyan who used to work in Premiere before gifted me a plaque of 100,000 rubles that was used in this gambling institution. This plaque, made of “mother of pearl” by Bourgogne et Grasset, had one particular feature, the name of the city was misspelt on it! Instead of Saint Petersburg, it was spelt as: Sankt-Petersburg. I think it looked very funny in a respectable casino in the heart of the cultural capital of Russia. I wonder who made this severe mistake and what consequences were for his or her career, if any. Apparently, when the mistake was found, it was too late to change the order for manufacturing expensive chips.

When I got this plaque, there was a hope that I could find the remaining chips of this casino. In the same year of 2016, I went to St. Petersburg but, unfortunately, all chips were confiscated by the police from the underground casino in 2011 and, most likely, were disposed of.

For me, chips from Premiere Casino in St. Petersburg are one of the most favorite. Premiere Casino was rightfully a leader in the gambling business of Russia and is now in my collection.

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