The Venetian Resort Hotel Casino is a Venice-themed
resort, hotel and casino situated in Las Vegas, Nevada, on
the site of the old Sands Hotel. Built at a cost of $1.5 billion,
it is one of the most expensive resorts of its kind ever built.
The Venetian is owned by the Las Vegas Sands.
In addition to the lake in front of the casino, canals
on the next floor of building, in the shopping mall, are
used to provide gondola rides.
Once upon a time owned by self-made billionaire Sheldon
Adelson, the Venetian has 4,049 suites and a 120,000 square
foot (11,000 m²) casino.
History
Ground was broken on April 14, 1997 and the resort legitimately
opened on May 3, 1999.
In October 2001, the Guggenheim Hermitage Museum opened
within the resort.
The Venenezia at the Venetian opened as an extra tower
adding 1,013 suites.
According to the novel Busting Vegas by Ben Mezrich, a team
of blackjack players recruited from the Massachusetts Institute
of Technology attempted to smash the bank at Monte Carlo
with the assistance of a system invented by the character
named Victor Cassius. The novel describes how the management
of Monte Carlo responded to the growth of the team, members
including the following characters: Semyon Dukach, Owen
Keller and Allie Simpson.
James Bond, fictional British spy and protagonist of the
Bond book and movie series is often linked with the city's
glamorous Belle Époque casino. This was a representation
for the setting of Ian Fleming's first Bond novel, Casino
Royale (1953), 'Royale-Les-Eaux' being a fictional resort
in the style of Monte Carlo. The actual Monte Carlo and
its casino provided one of the glamorous locations for the
1995 James Bond Film, GoldenEye.
