The Hippodrome Casino in the UK has launched a new Las Vegas-style gaming and entertainment venture at its premises in London’s Leicester Square.
The owners of the Hippodrome say the new venue will accommodate a big rise in demand for casino gaming in London’s West End. Lola’s Underground Casino will also be the first casino to offer entertainment and gambling side by side on a UK casino floor.
Lola’s is the brainchild of Hippodrome owner Simon Thomas, who said: “Since we opened two years ago there has been an incremental rise in the number of visitors of 32,000 a week, demonstrating the potential demand there is for the new style of UK casino we offer here in London.
“To accommodate future growth we wanted to be well prepared and open a casino that echoes what Vegas does brilliantly - putting the entertainment on the same floor as the gambling, much closer to the tables.
“Hitherto this would have been impossible for any UK casino, but we’re bringing to life the vision and spirit of the 2005 Gaming Act which now allows venues like ours to offer a much more rounded entertainment experience.”
Lola’s Underground Casino will have dancing girls on podiums sited among the traditional blackjack and roulette tables and the room will include a “gin palace” and bar together with a barber shop for customers.
The new casino, built with an additional six-figure investment in the property, will be sited on the Hippodrome’s lower ground floor.
The name comes from Lola McGuire, a former chorus girl famous in her day for organising illicit card games and drinking parties. “Our research uncovered Lola McGuire, a beguiling performer and Edwardian entrepreneur,” said Simon Thomas.
“We thought she would lend just the right amount of seductive raciness to a space at the Hippodrome where she herself spent much of her time organising gambling, money lending through her own makeshift bank and operating the cellar bar using gin salvaged from the barges making their regular trips up the Thames from bankside distilleries.”
