Most rooms may open over weekend at new resort

Meanwhile, a University of Nevada, Reno economics professor who studies the casino industry said it's difficult to gauge the long-term impact of The Venetian's troubled first days that have seen the gaming complex send thousands of scheduled guests to competing hotels.

"Long-term fallout? Probably not as long as these are all solvable problems," said Bill Eadington, director of the Institute for the Study of Gambling and Commercial Gaming at the University of Nevada, Reno.

"Within a month or two there's probably going to be a so-what about all of this."

Inspectors resumed their efforts Thursday afternoon after analyzing results from previous testing of the building's fire and safety equipment, said Ron Lynn, assistant director of the Clark County Building Department.

The county agency granted a temporary certificate of occupancy to allow the early Tuesday public opening of the $1.5 billion megaresort's casino, but as of Thursday evening the agency had yet to issue a certificate for the entire 32-story hotel tower and its 3,056 rooms.

The bottom six floors of the structure, including 320 hotel rooms, are open to the public. But Venetian executives sent an estimated 2,600 Blockbuster Video conventioneers to Mandalay Bay and Luxor, among other Strip hotels.

"If there are no problems we might be able to open up to the 27th floor," Lynn. "There will be a change because something will have happened, either good or bad."

The megaresort's shopping mall and restaurant row is scheduled to open later this month, and its 63,000-square-foot health spa is scheduled for a June opening.

At least 10 inspectors were scheduled to work through the night to complete as much of the testing as people.

The inspection of the megaresorts fire- and smoke-detection systems began after Venetian workers completed the construction of the tower, Lynn said. The tests include the pumping in and removal of smoke from the hotel's ventilation system.

Eadington compared The Venetian's early problems to those of the MGM Grand, which opened in late 1993.

Portions of that megaresort remained under construction after its opening. Hotel guests had trouble getting room service, and the property had to remove virtually all of the toilets from its 5,005 rooms because they were not functioning properly.

On the flip side, Mirage Resorts Inc. with the recent opening of its Bellagio showed the proper way of opening a megaresort, he noted.

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