Two Way Hard Three | Las Vegas Casino & Design Blog

August 19, 2011

Your high roller demands?

Posted by daveschwartz

Most of us plebeians can only guess at the perks available to mega-high rollers at Las Vegas casinos. Twenty-four hour butler service? Dinners personally prepared by celebrity chefs? Carte blanche to do anything, say anything, be anything, as long as your credit holds up?

Take a glimpse behind the curtain and into a high roller suite after the jump.


Occasionally, a host will break ranks and tell us how it really goes down in the high roller suites. But lately details of the high roller lifestyle have trickled into the public consciousness thanks to lawsuits sparked by big spenders going bust. Last year, the Terrance Watanabe case was all over the news. Watanabe reportedly lost $127 million at then-Harrah's Entertainment casinos in 2006-7. They ended up settling it, but not before his lawyers aired allegations that his massive play was fueled by a never-ending (well, at least while the money lasted) stream of alcohol and drugs.

Today, I read about another former high roller, Ausaf Umar Siddiqui, who's facing charges for allegedly embezzling millions of dollars to cover an international string of gambling debts, including $20 million to Las Vegas casino.

One sentence in the KLAS report particularly caught my eye:

"Siddiqui was once considered a Vegas high-roller who reportedly demanded casino employees leave golden raisins and bottles of Dom Perignon in his room."

I understand Dom, which isn't exactly two-buck Chuck, as a mark of high rollerdom/ But is there some other meaning to "golden raisins" that I'm not getting? Like raisins dipped in actual gold? Because anyone in the world with $20 can get a six pack of Sun Maid golden raisins from Amazon.

Maybe high roller perks don't have to be the best of the best--maybe some of them are just good, old-fashioned stuff you like to have around.

So let's say by some twist of fate you find yourself with a villa and an 8-figure credit line at Wynn. What will you demand be waiting in your room when you get back from the tables?

I'd probably want a tuna and cheese sub from Dino's (Margate, New Jersey) waiting for me...though if they could pull it off, a cheese steak from Voltaco's (Ocean City, New Jersey) would really hit the spot. And, for some other folks in my party, an extensive DVD library of Thomas the Tank Engine, Max and Ruby, and Backyardigans.

What are your requests?


Comments

Read archived comments (22 so far)
August 19, 2011 1:40 PM Posted by chuckmonster

Van Halen playing in a room festooned with brown m.n.m's.

August 19, 2011 3:55 PM Posted by Harmy G

Endless shrimp cocktail and oysters on the half-shell. Also some form of female(s) entertainment.

August 19, 2011 5:32 PM Posted by jinx

I'm definitely going the brown m&m route too. I'm guessing a nice start would be some premium cuban cigars, bottles of king george V on hand for imbibing. The daughter would also enjoy the entire Little Einsteins catalog available.

August 19, 2011 8:30 PM Posted by Hunter

Well, of course it would be a chance to enjoy truly insane accommodations. That would be fun.

Friends want to hang? Send a jet to pick them up.

Of course, I'd demand a call from the president. Of the United States.

Make it happen or I'm outta here.

August 19, 2011 8:42 PM Posted by John

Did I hear endless shrimp and oysters on a half-shell. I'm there. Sounds like a pretty cool place, though.

August 19, 2011 9:22 PM Posted by John

Jessica from the Encore High Limit room and the tomato bisque from Society, simultaneously. Hell, throw in all three seasons of Arrested Development too.

August 20, 2011 1:18 AM Posted by Mike E

Nothing too out of the ordinary, but once a year around my birthday, I'd request the top floor Duplex at Encore, open its doors so that the Sky Casino be an amenity of the room, book my friends into several Resort Suites just passed the Sky Casino doors, and make sure all the table games there are a $5 minimum so everyone with me can play.

August 20, 2011 4:45 AM Posted by Jeff in OKC

Lunch with Steve Wynn. And bring Parry Thomas down from Sun Valley to join us.
And, of course, hookers and blow for later.

August 20, 2011 8:13 AM Posted by Bob

The raisins go into the champagne because they will rise and fall with the bubbles. Try it some time.

August 20, 2011 11:47 AM Posted by Mizzou

Siddiqui, or Mr. S as we were to addrrss him, was a real peace of work. The raisins where just the beginning. A fridge full of assorted beers, sodas & desserts, such as strawberry shortcake, tapioca & mango pudding, which went unconsumed most trips. Bottles of Fiji, in groups of 3, placed every few feet throughout the villa. Special hangers for his clothes, which could only be cleaned at Tiffany Couture on Sahara.
Not only Dom, but 2 full bars, including bottles of Hardy's Perfection, which cost $10k each...but his agreement with my joint is that he was never charged for booze.
The Palms bought a barbers chair just for him, installed DirecTV in the two-story villas, hosted a party in the Hardwood suite when his team won the Arenabowl, and removed handicapped parking so he could park the cars they gave him (a Ferrari or Lambo, depending on his mood.) He had a private gaming area above the Mint, staffed by two dealers 24 hours, even if he didn't play.
A four page shopping list of toiletries and personal items, including Nizarol shampoo for thinning hair and Magnums in the bedside table...C'mon Mr. S, you pay for the girls, you don't have to pretend you're swinging a big bat.
That guy is the worst human being I've ever had to serve, hands down, and I hope he rots. Atleast Watanabe was pleasent.

August 20, 2011 6:37 PM Posted by Jeff in OKC

I get the impression this Siddick dude was universally despised: A commenter on the Sun site had a service tale that was similar to the one above and I think he is the person in the "Double Or Nothing" book described as "The Boxer" with highly unpleasant personality traits.

August 20, 2011 6:46 PM Posted by Meredith M.

Here we go...I'd ask that Hubert Keller, Joël Robuchon and/or Bradley Ogden be available to cook for and eat with me. I would have the Bettie Page store some custom fit some dresses for me, I would request the Bellagio fountains playlist include Metallica (or at least Apocalyptica), and I would fly in people I've never met, but find interesting. People from Twitter, writers, TV personalities, chefs, comedians...get some Schlitz and LOUIS XIII de Rémy Martin and party till it hurt. And he following morning, I would want a mariachi brunch for everyone with Vicente Fernández performing.

August 21, 2011 12:48 PM Posted by detroit1051

Never thought about executive bonus programs in these terms before:
"...judging by the debt run up by Siddiqui, he contributed to many executives bonus programs through his Las Vegas years."
http://news.yahoo.com/frys-executive-lists-las-vegas-casino-debts-bankruptcy-153900414.html

August 21, 2011 3:42 PM Posted by Dave

Bob and Mizzou's comments are great. I had no idea about the raisins and the champagne. I guess I'm too used to seeing them as ants on a log.

I'd also add water ice to my list. Real South Jersey water ice.

And a room with the latest recording equipment for Hunter to use for a very special "Vegas Gang: The High Roller Edition."

And whatever else Hunter, Chuck, Jeff, and our guests would want.

August 22, 2011 6:51 AM Posted by DuLac55

An Art-o-mat in my room. Maybe a mini sculpture of canoes. Chefs from every Aria restaurant - they're not busy anyway. Throw in a Ferris Wheel...a view of Echelon, and a few sheets of glass from The Harmon.

Last, but most importantly, I would absolutely demand special bottles of water. I want them every two feet, in groups of 4 (whatever Chinese, 4 is good luck). I want nothing but the best bottles of water...Eau d'Aria - with as much Legionella as possible while still being drinkable.

Oh to dream...

August 22, 2011 8:53 AM Posted by stevecovington

Lots of blow.

Too much of a pain to go buy it from the NYNY/MGM bridge.

August 22, 2011 8:55 AM Posted by stevecovington

....and I'd have to copy Mike E and rent out the entire 63rd floor at Encore... I'd just Howard Hughes-it all the way to the nut house.

August 22, 2011 10:33 AM Posted by BillyInLasVegas

I really don't get the Raisins and Dom thing.
But if you're going to make a crazy demand for a high end item paired with a low end item then I want Crystal and Cheetos. Also my Cheetos must be sorted by size and there should be no broken ones.

One of my crazy demands would be of course the private jet for my friends and I don't want the G5 give me the BBJ. Also since I live in Las Vegas you can send the Rolls to pick me up.

I like the lunch with Steve Wynn idea and if I'm staying at an MGM property make Jimbo serve my food.

But honestly don't think I would make too many crazy demands. Give me a nice villa, some top shelf booze, all the F&B comps I want for me and my friends and I'll be happy.

August 22, 2011 9:34 PM Posted by Brentwood real estate agent

Steve Wynn idea and if I'm staying at an MGM property make Jimbo serve our food.!!!!!!!!!!!!!i would copy Mike E and rent out the entire 63rd floor at Encore its all about nut house...........

August 23, 2011 7:23 AM Posted by Phil

I'll take 458 Italia from Penske/Wynn Ferrari

$50k shopping spree at Brioni

$50k spree at Wynn & Company jewelers to pick up a watch or two

I figure if I'm dropping ten million at Wynn they can afford to give me $400k in perks. I like the lunch with Steve Wynn idea too. Ok, enough fantasy land for now.

August 30, 2011 8:40 AM Posted by Jamie

Might have to make them go through some trouble and get them to fly out some fresh Mack N Manco pizza from the OC Boardwalk. Light on the cheese, extra crispy.

October 1, 2011 7:27 PM Posted by bigdaddyj

My father was a very big "high roller" at Trump Plaza in AC from the time it opened up until his death in 1994. Whenever he wanted to go down, he would get the same suite the "New York, New York" suite on the 37th floor penthouse level. When he would arrive, in the suite there would usually be a CASE of his favorite wine (Bâtard-Montrachet, at the time several hundred dollars a bottle), a carton each of his & his wife's brand of cigarettes, several gigantic platters of shellfish on ice, a few bottles of his favorite vodka, his wife's favorite liquers, and, if he was expecting specific returning guests (say me or my grandfather), my favorite scotch or my grandfather's favorite Gin. When he married his second wife, the reception was thrown (free, of course), in Trump Plaza's duplex penthouse. If he came with additional guests, they were also put up free in rooms or suites on the Trump Plaza's penthouse levels (35-37), and all in his party had access to the VIP lounge (i forget if it was on the 35th or 37th floor), where they bent over so backwards to get you whatever you wanted, that one time a drunken friend and I requested Macadamia nuts and warm Beck's Dark at 3AM and we got them, no questions asked! When it was near my father's anniversary, Christmas, or his wife's birthday, a jeweler would meet him in his suite with a selection of (very expensive) pieces of jewelry that he could choose from to give his wife as a gift for the occasion. Knowing that my Dad was a Cowboys fan, they regularly reserved him skyboxes & limo transport for every game whenever the Cowboys played in either Philadelphia or the Meadowlands. When I was going to college in Philadelphia, an entire skybox was reserved for me & my friends, without our even having asked, for a playoff game, and when I missed it because my answering machine in my dorm was broken, they got me excellent world series tickets (right behing the bullpen) for every game in the series in Philadelphia that year. Also, if Donald Trump was in town when my dad was dining at Ivana's or Maximillians (the two gourmet rooms at Trump Plaza at the time), he would always stop by my father's table to make small talk, and on more than one occasion actually had dinner with him & his wife. In Vegas, my dad played at the Desert Inn; We would get flown out in a private jet, pick us up in a limo at the airport, put up in a duplex suite with 3 bedrooms and a private swimming pool out back on the golf course in the "Wimbledon" building, they would provide us with a Rolls-Royce Silver Shadow sedan to use as our car our entire stay, regularly send my mom on free shopping sprees at the fashion show mall across the street, and our casino host usually ate dinner with our family at least once per trip...