A casino holiday no longer means a smoky room and a row of slot machines. The world's biggest gaming resorts now operate as full-blown destinations, complete with theme parks, safari reserves, opera houses and Zaha Hadid buildings. If you have never considered a trip built around a casino floor, some of these might change your mind.
Macau is the heavyweight. The Venetian Macao covers almost 10.8 million square feet and has its own indoor canals with gondola rides, plus roughly 3,000 slot machines and 750 table games. Across town at City of Dreams, the Morpheus Hotel is a striking piece of Zaha Hadid architecture with a rooftop pool, spa and art gallery attached.
Las Vegas still sets the standard for spectacle. The Bellagio is famous for its dancing fountains and has appeared in films like Ocean's Eleven, but inside there are around 2,000 slots and serious poker rooms. The MGM Grand packs 139 tables and 2,500 machines onto a 171,500-square-foot gaming floor, while Caesars Palace goes for Roman columns, marble statues and over-the-top grandeur.
For a completely different mood, head to Monaco. The Casino de Monte-Carlo dates back to the 19th century, all Belle Epoque facades, gilded ceilings and marble columns, and the complex also houses the Grand Theatre. The neighbouring Hotel de Paris adds Riviera polish with a three-Michelin-star restaurant.
Further afield, Sun City in South Africa pairs its casino, with more than 850 slots and nearly 40 tables, with a private game reserve where guests can go on safari. In Singapore, Marina Bay Sands needs little introduction: three towers crowned by the SkyPark, with a science museum, theatre and vast shopping mall below. The city's Resorts World Sentosa goes further still, putting a casino alongside Universal Studios, a water park and a marine life park. And in Connecticut, Foxwoods is technically six casinos under one roof, with golf courses, theatres and one of the world's largest bingo halls.
Why does this matter to travellers? Because these places work whether or not you gamble. You could spend a weekend at Marina Bay Sands or the Venetian without touching a table, and Monte-Carlo is worth the trip for the architecture alone. For anyone who does fancy a flutter, the choice is essentially a pick-your-flavour exercise: desert spectacle in Nevada, canal-side excess in Macau, faded European elegance on the Riviera, or bush and blackjack in South Africa.
Check visa rules before booking: Macau and mainland China have separate entry requirements, and Singapore and South Africa each have their own. And remember that dress codes at the older European casinos, particularly Monte-Carlo, are stricter than anything you will find in Las Vegas.
