The Side Action The other gambling empires strike back
Cigar Aficionado|November - December 2023
Las Vegas and Atlantic City are not exactly sitting back on their comfy gaming-table chairs while potential competition brews in New York. After all, the Big Apple already attracts three times as many visitors as Vegas, even without full-service casinos, and the three-hour trip to Atlantic City is looking less attractive if all you want to do is place a wager. Both cities have moved quickly to hedge their bets with bolstered attractions.
Michael Kaplan
The Side Action The other gambling empires strike back

The newest entry in Sin City is Fontainebleau, an offshoot of the famous Miami hotel. While it will have the usual top-notch amenities that make Vegas desirable—spa, gambling, gorgeous rooms, cool restaurants—Fontainebleau will introduce one thing that Vegas does not have.

“There will be a membership club on the top floor,” says Jeffrey Soffer who heads up Fontainebleau in Vegas and Miami. Its name—the Poodle Room—harks to a spot at the Miami Fontainebleau where Frank Sinatra hung out in the ’50s. Soffer enthuses that the Las Vegas incarnation “will overlook the city and be for members, VIP guests [i.e., big gamblers] and people staying in certain room products. The space is around 20,000 square feet, highly decorated and the nicest lounge in Las Vegas. There’ll be a cigar room in there and it will be totally unique to Vegas.” At the foot of the Vegas Strip,

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