Las Vegas

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PASSPORT CONTROL at Las Vegas McCarran Airport, and I’m braced for a KGB-style grilling from an immigration officer trained to make innocent holidaymakers feel like spies infiltrating Cold War Berlin.

But a quick glance into the guard’s booth suggests I’m in for an easy ride. He has accessorised his cubicle with a pair of oversized novelty dice and a picture of fat Elvis. And he’s flashing me a friendly smile as round as a roulette wheel.

‘Have a lucky day,’ he says, waving me through like a kindly lollipop lady.

Welcome to Las Vegas, the city that, from the moment your passport is stamped, goes out of its way to prove it’s like no other place on earth.

It’s tempting to leave your luggage completing endless circuits of the baggage carousel while you chance your arm on one of the airport’s 1,300 slot machines. After all, you’re just one jackpot away from a new designer-label wardrobe.

But even those with will power enough to wait until leaving the terminal won’t have to wait long to try their luck. The city’s glitziest hotels and casinos sit next to the airport, clamouring for your cash the second you step out into the desert heat.

Weaving their malevolent magic

While checking in to the Mandalay Bay hotel, the distant shriek of a gambler on a winning streak caused me to ditch my unpacking and drink in the sights and sounds of its mega casino.

The rhythmic clicking of betting chips, the whirl of slot machines weaving their malevolent magic, hustlers hidden behind caps and shades and men asking leggy lovelies to blow their dice a good luck kiss. All that was missing was Martin Scorsese to shout: ‘Cut!’

Giving the £17,000-a-hand blackjack table a wide berth, I opted for an £18 game being played by a group of senior citizens blowing their grandchildren’s inheritance.

I sat between Andy and Isaac, a pair of cigar-smoking veterans cursing their luck like The Muppet Show’s Waldorf and Statler. And it seemed my luck was in after my opening hand of 18 beat the dealer – doubling my £18 at the turn of a card.

'Let it ride, sonny!’ said Isaac, urging me to stake all my winnings on the next hand.

I recklessly followed his advice for three more glorious double-or-nothing hands that saw my original £18 swell to Rockefeller proportions. The casino’s heavies were no doubt watching my moves on CCTV and cross-checking my face with Interpol.

They needn’t have worried. A fatal fifth hand brought me back to zero with a bump – the croupier sweeping away my tower of chips.

It might have been a case of ‘close but no cigar’, but that didn’t stop Isaac offering me one of his Cuban Cohibas to help me come to terms with my loss. ‘Go figure!’ he said, shrugging, before adding: ‘I know how you feel. I get lucky here almost every day. I almost get lucky on Mondays, I almost get lucky on Tuesdays…’

'One more go!'

Isaac and I comprise a fraction of the 99 per cent of visitors who together squander more than £9billion a year, seduced by the romance of the ‘one more go’.

The Las Vegas of folklore is all about the gambling. Today, casinos must compete with shows such as Cirque du Soleil, Mamma Mia! and The Phantom Of The Opera, celebrity concerts, designer shopping (the Wynn Las Vegas Hotel has its own Chanel and Manolo Blahnik boutiques and a Ferrari- Maserati showroom), spas, clubs and fine dining.

But whatever your pleasure, the city guarantees it will be world-class. After all, Vegas doesn’t do anticlimaxes.

Most of the attractions are housed in 19 of the world’s 20 largest hotels. The £1.5billion Wynn is one of the latest and most lavish hotel casino to open on the Las Vegas Strip.

Many of the city’s attractions are miniature versions of the originals, from a pretend Paris complete with Eiffel Tower, to Egypt with its pyramids and a Manhattan with the Statue of Liberty.

But for a simulated city, Vegas is not short on sophistication and has options to satisfy every sense. Its cuisine has come a long way from cheap prawn cocktails and pile ‘em high buffets. It now serves gourmet food to rival the world’s finest.

The steaks are as big as the stakes

High rollers can put their mouth where their money is by ordering an extreme dining option – a $5,000 beefburger at Fleur de Lys at the Mandalay Bay Hotel or a 16-course meal at the MGM Grand, rounded off with a $1,000 shot of 50-year-old Macallan whisky.

But the casino restaurants all offer good value for money. The Rio hotel’s Carnival World Buffet offers a taste of old Vegas with a 300-dish mega spread.

The lavish Wynn hotel offers three venues for the perfect supper. At the Daniel Boulud Brasserie, dishes include peppered filet mignon - and great desserts. The hotel’s Wing Lei is the only Chinese restaurant in the USA to win a Michelin star, while the seafood at Bartolotta Ristorante di Mare is flown in from the Mediterranean daily.

Elsewhere, the steaks are as big as the stakes at the Strip House restaurant in Planet Hollywood’s new hotel and casino. Chef John Schenk’s menu includes prime cuts of beef charred to perfection. For dessert – the foot-high 24-layer chocolate cake.

Of course, fast food is cheap and abundant, and burgers and drinks are free when you’re gambling.

But a word of warning. If you’re tempted to try your luck on the blackjack tables, it’s best to ignore the ‘one more go’ theory. Your investment is likely to go down… really, really down.