Updated Oct 25, 2024
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The world’s most expensive casinos typically have massive gaming floor space and offer thousands of slot machines and hundreds of table games. Most are located in Las Vegas, Macau, and Singapore. Online casinos, in contrast, offer access to players from around the world. Crypto casinos, in particular, operate offshore and can accept players from the US and beyond. (source).
Casino expert Sergio Zammit points out that Bitcoin casinos typically don’t require any KYC (Know Your Customer) checks, meaning that players can sign up without providing any personal information. This level of anonymity is not available at the brick-and-mortar casinos listed below.
It can be difficult to compare the prices of casinos, with casinos like The Bellagio built in 1998 and the Aria Campus built in 2009. The Mirage in Vegas doesn’t even feature on the list because it was built way back in 1989 and cost less than a billion dollars. But, it was the first mega-resort of its type and was the most expensive casino development in the world for some time.
Aria Campus is a campus, rather than a single casino. It houses two hotels, the Aria and Vdara, as well as 15 places to eat, spas, and a variety of venues. There’s even a dog hotel and the whole campus consists of 18.2 million square feet right on the Las Vegas Strip. It cost approximately $8.5 billion to make and is one of the largest construction works in US history.
While the Aria Campus is a complex that consists of multiple buildings and projects, the Marina Bay Sands boasts being the most expensive standalone casino in existence, having cost nearly $7 billion to build. The building boasts 160,000 square feet of casino games and slots as well as a hotel, places to eat, and a rooftop SkyPark. As well as its astronomical building cost, the Marina Bay Sands has also had another $750 million spent on refurbishments and expansions.
Resorts World Sentosa is owned by Genting and the Singapore-based casino has about the same amount of casino gaming space as the Marina Bay Sands. The $5.2 billion construction cost included one of the largest aquariums in the world as well as a Hard Rock Hotel and a Universal Studios. The whole casino is located on the water’s edge and it looks stunning from every angle.
The Wynn Las Vegas & Encore Resort started life as a comparatively humble casino, hotel, and entertainment venue. It did feature the tallest building in Las Vegas at the time. The initial construction cost of $2.7 billion was already massive, but a year later, the casino was expanded to include a full 18-hole golf course and a brand-new resort. The expansion came in at $2.3 billion, pushing up the total price of the Wynn to $5 billion or more. The resort has plans for further expansions, too.
The second Resorts World on the list is located in Las Vegas and cost just over $4 billion to build. It only opened in 2021, immediately becoming the 2nd most expensive casino in the city, and it is known for being a smart casino. Rather than buying and playing with chips, players can use the casino’s app, load it with money, and then use their phones to play in the massive venue.
The Wynn Palace in Macau was established following the financial success of the Wynn Las Vegas. It opened in 2016 and remains the most expensive private property in Macau. In 2019, planning permission was granted for the casino to add another 650 rooms to the hotel section. The expansion will take the total cost to around $6 billion and propel it further up the list of most expensive casinos.
The Cosmopolitan’s gaming area is a little smaller than many of the other casinos and resorts on this list, at just 9,000 square meters of gaming area. Although that does still give players access to 1,500 slots and nearly 100 table games. The Cosmo has become better known for its stylish opulence as much as for its access to casino gaming. It cost just under $4 billion to build.
The Venetian, in Macau, has one of the biggest casino areas of any casino or resort in the world with more than 50,000 square meters of gaming space. It also has indoor gondolas, which are considered as much of a tourist attraction as the more than 3,000 slot machines and 300 table games.
The City of Dreams is a resort, rather than an individual casino. In fact, it houses three different casinos as well as four hotels with a total of five hotel towers. It cost just over $2 billion to build and its success has led to several other City of Dreams resorts opening their doors around the world.
The Ballagio’s $1.6 billion cost isn’t that impressive compared to the rest of the list, but it is made all the more impressive by the fact that The Bellagio’s construction was completed more than 25 years ago, and yet it still remains in the top 10 most expensive casinos in the world. It is one of the most recognizable and iconic venues on The Strip and regularly features in movies. It is still widely considered one of the best venues in Vegas.
Successful casinos can make a lot of money, but the big bucks are generally reserved for the most impressive buildings with the most expensive casino floor space. As well as being home to high net-worth individuals, Vegas is still the most popular gambling city in the world, and while new casino developments are rare on The Strip, it still retains some of the most expensive casinos.