Thursday, June 14, 2007

Paris Hotel and Casino, Las Vegas, USA

Paris Las Vegas is a hotel and casino located on the famed Las Vegas Strip in Las Vegas, Nevada, USA , that is owned and operated by Harrah's Entertainment. As its name suggests, its theme is the city of Paris in France; it includes a 1/2 scale, 540 foot (164.6 m) tall replica of the Eiffel Tower, and a neon sign in the shape of the Montgolfier balloon, a two-thirds size Arc de Triomphe, and a replica of La Fontaine des Mers. The front facade of the building suggests the Paris Opera House and the Louvre.

Its adjacent sister property, Bally's Las Vegas, has a Las Vegas Monorail station.

The project was originally announced by Bally's Entertainment, owner of the adjacent Bally's Las Vegas.

Ground was broken for the Paris on April 17, 1997. It opened September 1, 1999 with fireworks being shot from the Eiffel tower. French actress Catherine Deneuve flipped a switch, turning on all of the Paris' lights.

Building began under Hilton Hotels, which purchased Bally Entertainment in 1996; Hilton's casinos were subsequently spun off into Park Place Entertainment, which purchased Caesars World in 2000 and changed its name to Caesars Entertainment in 2004. When Hilton Hotels began the building, it was originally going to be called Paris Hilton, presumably named after Mr. Hilton's daughter, but then Hilton spun off the casino business before Paris was open, so the name was changed back to the Paris Hotel and Casino.[citation needed]

At the time of its opening, the hotel ran amusing television advertisements throughout the United States implying that it had ensured the authenticity of its reproductions of Paris landmarks, culture and cuisine by looting the real city.

When the scale model of the Eiffel Tower was built, it was planned to be full scale, but the airport was too close and the tower had to be shrunk.

Paris cost USD $785 million to build, and occupies 24 acres (97,000 m²).

In November 2006, the Paris sports book was temporarily shut down pending an investigation of its employees for allegedly underreporting tips.

[Source: Wikipedia]

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