Richard Branson Shopping for Resort Property in Las Vegas to Make Virgin Hotel

Virgin Group founder Richard Branson owns everything from an airline and health clubs to a commercial spaceflight company and a small media empire. Now the eccentric billionaire has his sights on the hotel business in Las Vegas.

This past week, Branson expressed interest in buying an existing casino-resort property and putting it under his brand, Virgin Hotels.

Branson launched Virgin Hotels in 2010, and opened its first location in Chicago in January 2016. The original plan called for eight hotels in US cities by 2020, with New York, San Francisco, Silicon Valley, Dallas, New Orleans, Palm Springs, and Washington DC all on the list.

That vision has since expanded, with 20 hotels by 2025 as the new target, which has Branson shopping for potential places in Las Vegas. His company has partnered with Bosworth Hospitality Partners to help them find the right location.

“We are highly energized right now in pursuit of procuring a Las Vegas casino hotel resort,” founder Richard Bosworth told the Las Vegas Sun. “Due to confidentiality concerns I cannot share any specific details. However, we 에볼루션카지노are completing our confirmatory due diligence.”

Vegas Connections

Branson’s former airline Virgin America, which he sold to Alaska Air last year, makes several flights to McCarran Airport from various cities, and his Virgin Atlantic Airlines has direct flights to Sin City from London and Manchester.

The 67-year-old Englishman designed the hotels with luxurious beds, free WiFi and reasonable prices for the minibar. The Chicago property has room rates ranging from $145 to $210 a night on discount travel sites.

The seventh wealthiest UK resident also is an investor in Hyperloop One, the electromagnetically levitated tube that seeks to shuttle humans from one city to the next at speeds up to 670 mph. The company has its testing facility nearby in North Las Vegas. Branson joined the board of directors on Oct. 12.

Casino Novice

Branson insists he doesn’t have any interest in gambling. In his biography, Finding My Virginity, published in October, he wrote about trying to teach his teenage son and daughter a lesson about the perils of gambling in Las Vegas only to have the effort backfire.

“Rather than getting themselves into a dangerous situation, I decided to introduce them to the pitfalls of betting personally,” Branson wrote. “I thought learning a few hard-hitting lessons in an atmosphere of hedonism and wild abandon could actually be effective.”

He gave them each $40 in chips and then placed bets for them at a roulette wheel. In a few minutes they had lost their money and dad was ready for a paternal dose of fatherly advice.

“There’s a saying in Vegas, ‘The house always wins.’ And that’s true. The only people who make any money out of casinos are the owners. And they make plenty of it,” he told his kids.

The only problem was he had unknowingly left some of the chips on the table and 안전카지노사이트walked away. Then, as they walked past the roulette table, people started applauding. Apparently the money had multiplied in their absence.

He tried to save face but the kids weren’t buying it.

“It’s important to remember that there is an exception to every rule,” he tried to tell them. “I might as well have been talking to a brick wall. They were too busy grinning to pay attention.”

Philadelphia Casino Lawsuit Dropped, PA Gambling Expansion Bill Generates $1 Million

A second Philadelphia casino is cleared for construction, after rival SugarHouse dropped its ongoing lawsuit against Stadium Casino, LLC, that has prevented the Live! Hotel & Casino project in the Stadium District from moving forward.

The cease of the legal challenge comes as a result of the massive gambling expansion bill signed into law this week by Governor Tom Wolf (D). SugarHouse was challenging whether Armenian billionaire Bob Manoukian, who owns a controlling 86 percent stake in Parx Casino, a venue 20 miles north of downtown Philly in Bensalem, could also hold a more than one-third stake in Live!

The Keystone State’s previous casino regulations mandated that “No slot machine licensee, its affiliate, intermediate, subsidiary or holding company possess ownership or financial interest that is greater than 33.3 percent of another gambling venue.”

Stadium Casino is a joint partnership between The Cordish Companies, the Baltimore-based owner of the Live! brand, and Manoukian’s Greenwood Racing. Manoukian said he wouldn’t actually own interest in the Live! Philadelphia casino, instead deferring the assets to a trust controlled by his sons.

The gambling expansion bill signed into law this week repeals the limiting of casino ownership, essentially nulling SugarHouse’s legal argument.

Live! is expected to cost $600 million, and will feature 2,000 slot machines, 125 table games, and 200-room hotel. The venue will be located adjacent to the city’s sports stadiums where the Eagles, Phillies, 76ers, and Flyers play.

SugarHouse Counting Losses

Pennsylvania, already the second commercial gambling state in America behind only Nevada, is expanding in order to help fund a $2.2 billion state budget gap. The new law permits the construction of 10 satellite casinos, online gambling including interactive poker and slots, daily fantasy sports, gaming terminals in truck stops, airport gaming lounges, and lays out regulations for sports betting.

It also provides provisions for Pennsylvania’s two resort casinos, Valley Forge and Lady Luck Nemacolin, to pony up $1 million in order to ease restrictions on their gaming operations. Valley Forge did just that this week.

Valley Forge and Lady Luck are Category 3 licenses, which restricts their floors to 600 slot machines and 50 table games. Being “resort casinos” where the casino is meant to compliment the property’s other operations and not be the main draw, both have only been allowed to welcome hotel guests, membership holders, and resort customers who spend at least $10 elsewhere on the grounds to gamble.

But under the new law, Category 3 establishments can pay $1 million to open access to the general public. That might not sit well with Category 2 standalone casinos like Sands Bethlehem and SugarHouse, which paid $50 million for their licenses. Valley Forge and Lady Luck initially paid just $5 million for their Category 3 gaming permits.

Taking Applications

Pennsylvania’s 10 Category 2 licensees will be able to build a satellite casino in areas at least 25 miles from a present gambling facility. But local communities first have their say in determining whether they want to host such a venue.

The Pennsylvania Gaming Control Board says municipalities have until December 31 to notify the state if they’re opting out of the satellite bidding process, or wish to be considered.

Towns stand to collect local share payments annually should they welcome the casinos.