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FEATURES
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COLUMNS |
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 | Hot Bets
Tips from our SportsBook expert
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 | Gamble Mt. Everest!
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• Contact info:
777 Argosy Pkwy., Lawrenceburg, IN 47025-2503; (888) ARGOSY-7; info@argosycasinos.com
• Rooms:
300
• Rates:
$79-$164 per night
• Casino: Largest riverboat casino in the U.S., with 2,000 slots, 97 table games
• Amenities:
6 restaurants, 1,800 car garage
• Attractions:
Plenty of regional museums, arts and music
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Argosy VI Riverboat Casino
Can you be down home and exotic at the same time? You can if you climb aboard the Argosy VI riverboat casino in Lawrenceburg, Indiana. A page straight out of Mark Twain that's pure Americana, the Argosy is a massive sidewheel-style craft touted as the most popular riverboat casino in the world.
It's easy to see why. Whereas a lot of riverboat casinos spend their entire lives permanently moored to the local pier, the Argosy is a fully navigable vessel. The triple-decker boat, which holds 4,000 passengers comfortably, hits the open water 10 times a day for two-hour jaunts on the Ohio River, along the Indiana-Kentucky border just down-river from Cincinnati. (It's a 20-minute drive from downtown Cincy to Lawrenceburg.) An excursion on the boat costs $3-$5, depending on the day and time.
Each of the three tiers of the Argosy are as big as a football field--and the 75,000-square-foot craft is packed with action, including more than 2,000 slots (from nickel to $25) and nearly 100 table games. Among your gaming options are blackjack, Caribbean stud, craps, mini-baccarat and roulette (though we wonder how true the wheel can be with the ship rocking back and forth). Limits vary, but there's an exclusive area for high rollers. And, high roller or low, if your luck turns bad, you can always just relax and enjoy the ride.
But how bad can your luck be? The Argosy has the loosest slots in Indiana, paying back over 94 percent, which is on a par with competitive spots in Vegas. Now that's what we call rolling on the river. (There are handful of other boats out there, too, helping Ohio River gambling rake in over $1 billion per year.)
Back dockside in Lawrenceburg, there's a hotel complex with a variety of restaurants, lounges and entertainment. But you can find that anywhere. The real reason to come is to take a cruise on the Argosy. Win or lose, it'll really float your boat.
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• Contact info:
Box 140, Kathmandu, Bagmati, Madhyamanchal, Nepal; (977) 1-228-650; casanna@mos.com.np
• Rooms:
187
• Rates:
$104-$208
• Casino: 200 slots, 40 tables
• Amenities:
4 restaurants, central air-conditioning, sauna, pool, tennis court, health club
• Attractions:
Mt. Everest; temples, parks and museums abound
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Casino Anna, Kathmandu, Nepal
If you want to travel to the ends of the earth to test your luck, come to Kathmandu. You really have to be a risk-taker however. Oh, not that the casino odds are worse here than most other places, but you have to boil the water to avoid stomach ailments, you've got your beastly hot weather followed by monsoons (May-September) and pesky Maoist insurgents have been known to bomb the city from time to time. But you like to live life on the edge, right?
And of course you probably need to unwind after that climb down some of the highest peaks on earth, like Everest and Annapurna. So feel free to stop in to Kathmandu City's Casino Anna. The largest of the four casinos in this city of 600,000, the 12,000-square-foot Casino Anna (nestled snuggle into the five-star Hotel Annapurna) has 200 slots and 36 table games. Try your hand at baccarat, blackjack, roulette and poker as well as the popular Indian variants of poker flush and paplu. Limits start low, so your wagers don't have to set you back too much. But there's also a private gaming area for high rollers.
Despite the travel hassles and political upheaval, there's plenty to see and do in Kathmandu away from the gaming tables. The casino is located in the area known as Durbar Marg, Kathmandu's most popular tourist area, so everything you need will be close by. In addition, the hotel has a rental car desk and also arranges excursions to regional attractions like the Tibetan Buddhist monasteries in Bodhnath. You could also ask about a trip to the jungle in Royal Chitman National Park a few hours away to see tigers, rhinos and elephants. (Unfortunately, you might also see those guerrillas of the Maoist species in this area, too, so check on recent military activity before you go.)
But if you stay in the capital city, the Kathmandu locals are very friendly, and you can check out various cool neighborhoods. Investigate the former '60s hippie enclave known as Freak Street, explore the old city's marketplaces and quaint streets or hang out around the museums, temples and architectural wonders of Durbar Square.
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• Contact info:
Casino Drive, Nassau, Paradise Island, Bahamas; (800) 722-7466
• Rooms:
2,300
• Rates:
$300 and up
• Casino: 980 slots, 78 tables
• Amenities:
35 restaurants and bars, 11 pools, satellite TV, tennis courts
• Attractions:
Waterslides, artificial coral reefs, aquariums, nightclubs
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Atlantis Resort and Casino, Paradise Island
Not everybody's cut out for Kathmandu. If your idea of exotic involves sun, sea, sand and absolute safety, take a fantastic journey to Atlantis. It's no myth, the largest casino in the Caribbean is the centerpiece of this massive resort complex on Paradise Island in the Bahamas. Like Vegas with an ocean view, this is an unabashedly extravagant place but in an amazingly beautiful natural setting.
The casino itself is probably unlike anything you've ever seen. Appointed with amazing glass sculptures by artist Dale Chihuly, it spans a seven-acre lagoon that stretches between the resort's two massive towers. With more than 900 slots and dozens of tables featuring baccarat, blackjack, Caribbean stud poker, roulette (both American and French) and more, you're sure to be able to "get your game on," no matter what it is.
The entire resort is surrounded by a 34-acre waterscape--the world's largest outdoor aquarium--which features more than 200 species of tropical fish. Among the many aquariums, the best may be the predator lagoon featuring the black-nosed sharks. There are several more giant aquariums too, many with underwater glass tunnels that let you observe the fish in their element. (And they return the favor in a few spots in the casino as well, looking out from their aquariums to mock your inept double down on a pair of sixes.)
Family activities like pools and waterslides are also part of the scene, which hopefully will tire the rug rats enough so that you can get out to cut a rug yourself in one of the jumpin' Nassau nightspots. (There's plenty of entertainment on the resort's premises, but downtown is only a mile away). If you think pricey is nicey, you'll feel right at home: Restaurants are steep, especially around the resort, where lunch for two can easily set you back $75.
Away from the tables, both gaming and lunch, there's plenty more on the menu. There's not only every water sport and marine activity you can imagine but also golf, tennis, spas and even a 12th-century French cloister. The latter was taken apart, bit-by-bit, in France and painstakingly reassembled in the Bahamas. It's a little piece of paradise on Paradise Island. But definitely not the only one.
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