Divine Showdown

How to play Divine Showdown

Cleopatra’s Barge opened in September 1970 in what is now the Nobu Hotel tower, replacing the earlier Nero’s Nook lounge. The 180-seat lounge featured as its centerpiece a “floating” stage designed as a replica of the vessel aboard which the Egyptian queen is said to have bewitched Mark Antony.

The pleasure craft, installed in a shallow lagoon, featured a gold-painted, topless figurehead that extended far into the public walkway. Guests quickly turned rubbing the statue’s golden breasts for luck into a classic Vegas tradition; staff regularly repainted the most-touched areas.

Vital Vegas ranked the display No. 4 on his 2014 list of “10 Things You Can Rub for Good Luck in Las Vegas Without Getting Arrested,” a list that featured three other Caesars Palace entries: the hand of the Caesars statue (No. 1); Joe Louis’s boxing gloves (No. 8); and the toe of Michelangelo’s David replica (No. 9).

The barge itself never actually floated, by the way. That was just a myth. It sat on a fixed platform that created a mild rocking motion. That piece of Vegas engineering, like the statue’s original perch, is now history.

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Lottomatica’s agreement to absorb Cirsa, announced on 2 September, brings four Moroccan casinos into one of Europe’s largest listed gambling groups. Morocco accounts for about 2% of Cirsa’s revenue and about 4% of its earnings.

Neither company has announced plans to seek an online betting licence in North Africa. The deal nevertheless highlights the divide in Morocco’s gambling market.

Land-based gambling can attract international investment. Cirsa expanded its Marrakech presence last November. Private online betting has no equivalent licensing route.

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“That balance between global capability and local relevance has allowed us to establish a strong position in one of Latin America’s most competitive markets.”

That strong foundation in Peru lies in a regulatory framework deemed to be among the most comprehensive in LatAm.

“The rollout of the regulation was super positive,” Rossi says. “I believe that the Peruvian regulation is one of the best regulations in Latin America. [It’s] flexible, modern, business-friendly. The regulator has demonstrated a commitment to creating a safe and transparent market environment, and there’s a great relationship between the regulator and the operators.”