The Asian-based theme of the casino came down to economics in the end, Fonfa said. The night market, the casino’s definition of a buffet, will have specialty food dishes from Chinese, Filipino, Japanese, Vietnamese and Korean cultures that will appeal to many groups, he said.įonfa, whose family is of Italian and Jewish heritage, said he enjoys Chinese culture and has visited China several times, but making the casino a reality was about bringing in experts for its design and construction. That doesn’t mean all groups aren’t welcome, because Fonfa said the five restaurants that serve authentic Chinese food will attract a diverse group wanting to sample that cuisine. We think at the baccarat table, when there are five Asian customers gambling, that is probably not a place you will see a lot of local Caucasian people wanting to sit down and gamble.” “I think one of the key things about our project is that we believe the Asian clientele wants to gamble and be around other Asian clientele. “That’s why we consider ourselves an Asian casino because that’s all we have here,” Fonfa said. There are no roulette or craps tables and only a few blackjack tables. While there are 300 slot machines, the emphasis is on table games that Chinese-Americans and Chinese nationals enjoy, such as baccarat, pai gow poker and mah-jong. The signage is in Mandarin Chinese first and English second, and the hotel and casino has many frontline employees who speak Mandarin and other Asian languages. Walking through the Lucky Dragon, that emphasis is visible with a 1.2-ton dragon hanging from the ceiling, and there’s other Chinese artwork and finishes. “There are 250,000 (ethnic) Asians living here and (we’re) hoping to get our percentage of them, and we think we will do well.” “Our competition are the local casinos like the Gold Coast, Palace Station, The Orleans, The Palms and Rio, and we want to try to get our share of the local Asian clientele,” Fonfa said. It’s using the Chinese-language newspapers and other media in Las Vegas to market to those customers and to those in California as well. The Lucky Dragon is open about its marketing as a local’s casino catering to Asian Americans, including those of Chinese, Korean, Japanese, Filipino and Vietnamese ethnicity, living in Las Vegas. ![]() ![]() Fonfa, president and CEO of the newly opened Lucky Dragon, calls the casino an homage to old Las Vegas with its emphasis on food and gambling - only this is old Las Vegas, Chinese style. It took the Great Recession to make that dream a reality, even though it’s not quite what the 64-year-old Fonfa envisioned at the time. When Andrew Fonfa bought five acres on Sahara Avenue next to the Strip for $2.7 million in 1985, he always envisioned a high-rise hotel casino on the site.
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