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Two
miles west of the Strip on Tropicana Avenue, a stylish fake facade of
pastel-painted townhouses and intricate balconies conceals the
warehouse-like
Orleans
casino.
When it opened, at the end of 1996, this
previously untested
location seemed destined to drive it into rapid bankruptcy, but owner
Michavel Gaughan managed to turn things around, and its extensive outdoor
parking lots are now almost permanently full.
Don't expect too much, however, from its New Orleans theme. The three
jazz-playing alligators that greet you just inside the plate-glass doors
typify its half-hearted nods to the ambience and character of the
Crescent City, and there's disappointingly little New Orleans music on
offer in its lounges and showrooms.
As a
casino, however, it's quite exciting, with the loud broadcast
commentaries in its Race and Sports Book matched by the enthusiasm of
the clientele. Low stakes are offered on all table games, there's video
poker galore and penny slots - just like in Gaughan's father's Plaza,
downtown - and the croupiers are even decked out in Mardi Gras beads.
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Most of the customers are local, though busloads of tourists
arrive from
the Strip via free shuttle buses from the Gaughan-owned Barbary Coast .
The
Orleans' Mardi Gras ballroom regularly hosts middle-of-the-road stars
for short engagements, but Friday nights are kept free for bills of
men's and women's boxing. Other features that were hastily added to lure
in the crowds include a seventy-lane, 24-hour bowling arcade upstairs,
and the eighteen-screen Century Theatres, equipped with love seats and
rockers.
4500
W Tropicana Ae
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