from www.lasvegasadvisor.com
Q:
I live in the Dallas area an hour away from the tribal Winstar Casino, which lays claim to being the "second-largest casino in the "world." What is the largest? Is it in Las Vegas or Macau?
A:
These "largest" questions tend to be slippery customers, for a number of reasons. When it comes to hotels, for example, room counts can vary on a daily basis, as sections are taken out of commission for renovation, or suites combined, among other things.
Everyone wants to lay claim to the superlative, so statements are promoted by PR departments that prove very difficult to prove, or disprove. (Las Vegas’ famous Bonanza Gift Store has long claimed, in bright lights, to be the "world’s largest," but who knows? Sapphire Gentlemen’s Club here in town still calls itself the "world’s largest," when in fact it was allegedly surpassed a few years ago by Larry Flynt’s Hustler Club, also here in town and which, interestingly enough, doesn’t seem to bother to make any such claim for itself.)
As with hotel rooms, so it goes for casino floors, which are extremely fluid in terms of square footage, depending on usage at any particular moment (slot machines are relocated with regularity, table games taken in and out of commission depending on demand, sections sequestered for tournament use, and so on.) Hence, we really can’t give a definitive answer to your query, especially as the stats we’ve come across can vary wildly for the same property, depending on the source, with no explanation.
As a case in point, the last time we tackled this tricky question was back in January 2011, and here’s what we wrote back then — note the bolded statement in the last paragraph:
According to figures collated from Bloomberg Businessweek, CasinoCityTimes.com, and Casino City Press’ Gaming Business Directory, the world’s 10 largest casinos would be:
1. Potowatomi Bingo Casino; Milwaukee, Wis.: 780,000 sq. ft.
2. Venetian Macao: 546,000 sq. ft.
3. Casino de Montréal: 526,488 sq. ft.
4. San Manuel Indian Bingo & Casino; Highland, Calif.: 480,000 sq. ft.
5. City of Dreams Resort (Macao): 420,000 sq. ft.
6. Island Resort & Casino; Harris, Mich.: 408,520 sq. ft.
7. WinStar World Casino; Thackerville, Okla.: 380,000 sq. ft.
8. Foxwoods Casino Resort, Conn.: 344,000 sq. ft.
9. Viejas Casino; Alpine, Calif.: 327,000 sq. ft.
10. Jackpot Junction Casino Hotel; Morton, Minn.: 325,000 sq. ft.
Runners-up include: Casino du Lac-Leamy (Gatineau, Canada) at 319,105 square feet of gaming floor; Barona Valley Ranch Resort & Casino (310,000 sq. ft.); Mohegan Sun Casino in Uncasville, Conn., and River Spirit Casino in Tulsa, each with 300,000 square feet; Quechan Casino Resort, in Winterhaven, Calif. (297,000 sq. ft.); Chumash Casino Resort, in Santa Ynez, Calif. (280,000 sq. ft.); Casino Ponte 16, in Macao, with 270,000 square feet; Tusk Rio Casino Resort, in Klerksdorp, South Africa (266,330 sq. ft.); Sands Macao (229,000 sq. ft.); MGM Grand Paradise, in Macao (221,952 sq. ft.).
So, out of the top 20, five each are in Macao and California, two are in Connecticut, and two are owned by Sheldon Adelson. Press reports routinely state that 3,000-slot Venetian Macao is, in fact, the world’s largest casino but, with its 3,100 slots and 117 tables, Potowatomi Bingo has a strong case. Even so, a lack of independent verification (Foxwoods claims 7,000 slots and 400 tables in less than half the space) makes us want to put an asterisk by its awesome square footage.
In our 2011 list, WinStar World Casino came in at #7, with 380,000 square feet of casino floor. However, according to the Wikipedia entry for the property: "Originally opened as WinStar Casinos in 2004, the facility was expanded and renamed WinStar World Casino in 2009 and the 519,000 square feet (48,200 m2) of casino floor made it Oklahoma’s largest casino and the 2nd largest in the world."
This obviously doesn’t tally with the number we found for the same property two years after its expansion, and the Wikipedia article cites just one obscure and unverified source for the square-footage claim.
We tried to locate an up-to-date list, but could find nothing definitive. However, our best guess, assuming the numbers we saw cited are accurate, would be that the current leader, excluding the Potowatami Bingo Casino (see above), remains Venetian Macau, at 546,000 sq. ft., with Casino de Montréal claiming the #2 spot, at 526,829 sq. ft., and WinStar World coming in at #3, with 500,000 sq. ft. of gaming floor (according to the official Chickasaw Nation website). At around 170,000 sq. ft., MGM Grand, the largest casino in Las Vegas, doesn’t even make the list these days.
Replies:
No replies were posted for this topic.
