Lucky Dragon Defies the Odds, Shows Progress

By Scott Roeben, on July 05 2016
2 min read 7 comments
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It looks like Lucky Dragon, the new Asian-themed hotel-casino just off the Las Vegas Strip, is making good on its promises.

Evidence suggests construction is again under way on the project, and developers claim Lucky Dragon will open in late 2016.

Lucky Dragon construction
In Chinese mythology, dragons have 117 scales. Of those, 81 are of the yang essence, 36 are of the yin essence. Coincidentally, one of our favorite colognes is Essence of Yang.

Plagued by financial troubles, Lucky Dragon’s backers appear to have found the millions needed to resume construction.

Lucky Dragon’s casinos structure has been draped in cloth for a number of months now, but no more. The once-stalled project is showing signs of activity, inside and out.

Lucky Dragon Las Vegas
At left, the Lucky Dragon hotel, with 204 rooms. Center, the Lucky Dragon casino. At right, the Allure condominium tower, which is just happy to see you.

We’re setting our skepticism aside and rooting for the boutique hotel to open on schedule, at least according to its revised timeline.

Lucky Dragon is located near the corner of Las Vegas Boulevard and Sahara Avenue, close to the Bonanza Gift Shop and SLS Las Vegas.

Lucky Dragon
It looks like Lucky Dragon is back to being a thing again. Fingers crossed.

If and when Lucky Dragon opens, it will be the first Las Vegas casino to be built from the ground up since the Cosmopolitan opened in 2010.

Among Lucky Dragon’s distinctive features will be signage in Chinese first, English second. The resort’s casino will emphasize games popular with Asian players such as baccarat, pai gow poker and sic bo, whatever that might actually be.

“The best player in the world right now is the Chinese gambler,” says the project’s CEO, Andrew Fonfa. Lucky Dragon will have a tea garden as well, hosting traditional Chinese tea ceremonies.

It’s great seeing renewed activity at the Lucky Dragon site, and assuming things proceed according to plan, we look forward to having a new resort offering in Las Vegas where we can order food we have no idea how to pronounce.