Friday, Jan. 24, 1997 | 11:59 a.m.
Over the years, the Aladdin hotel-casino has taken a financial bombing from larger, Strip casinos and has had its trouble staying afloat despite ownership at times by some big guns, including entertainer Wayne Newton.
So a decision by London Clubs International to invest millions of dollars to bring the Aladdin into the megaresort age might appear surprising.
But London Clubs has proved it is not afraid to go into troubled places with an Arabian flavor and make a go of it -- namely war-torn Lebanon.
The Casino du Liban, shattered by the civil war from 1975-90, underwent two years of renovations by LCI before it reopened last year with 60 gaming tables and 308 slot machines.
The 38-year-old gambling house, located about 12 miles north of devastated Beirut, overlooks the picturesque Jounieh Bay. It reportedly is the nation's first major tourist project since the civil war.
Phase one of the casino cost London Clubs $50 million.
The second phase, slated to be completed this year, includes rehabilitation of the Salle des Ambassadeurs -- a combination restaurant, theatre and exhibition hall.
The final phase will include a 150-room luxury hotel.
The casino opened in 1959, and during its heyday in the 1960s was home to the Miss Europe competition for five straight years. Also, entertainers such as Frank Sinatra and Maria Callas frequented the facility.
Before the war, the casino attracted gamblers from Europe, the United States, Japan and the Arab Gulf states.
Under the LCI banner, the casino, which employs 800 people, makes tens of millions of dollars in revenues, mostly from Arab oilmen and Syrian and Jordanian gamblers, according to the Indonesia Times.
To enter the casino, Lebanese adults must sign a document stating their annual income is at least $15,000 a year -- more than eight times the annual salary of a minimum-wage worker, the newspaper reported.
Lebanese residents under age 21 are not allowed in the casino.
The government, which gave the Casino du Liban the monopoly on gaming 30 years ago, owns 51 percent of the establishment and collects 30 percent of its revenues, the Indonesia Times reported.
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