Bellagio Hotel & Casino is one of the most recognizable buildings on the Las Vegas Strip. The towering building is fronted by the Fountains of Bellagio, which has more than 1,200 water nozzles. The venue, which has featured in popular movie and TV shows, has long been considered one of the principal focal points of the Strip, and a recent public survey voted the MGM Resorts-owned casino as the 'Best Casino in the World'.
History of the iconic Bellagio Hotel & Casino
Bellagio opened in 1998 on the site of the former Dunes hotel. CEO Steve Wynn, who would later go on to establish Wynn Resorts, and designer Jon Jerde, based the building's architecture and design on the village of Bellagio on the shores of Lake Como, Italy.
The venture cost $1.6B, which made it the world's most expensive resort when it opened.
As well as 4,000 rooms and villas, the Bellagio has a high-end retail area with stores including Chanel and Prada. It also has multiple restaurants, formerly including two Michelin-starred eateries.
But, despite the additional features and amenities, Bellagio is best known as a casino. It has more than 2,500 slots and video slots, as well as nearly 200 table games. The hotel's poker room, and Bobby's Room, regularly host the world's biggest poker events as well as public games with various limits.
Bellagio's awards
The iconic Bellagio has previously won awards for being the top tourist attraction in the US as well as one of the most talked about.
Adding to its collection of awards is now the Casinos.com 'Best Casino in the World' award. The award is voted for by real players to mark International Casinos Day. Overall the Bellagio came out on top as the most popular venue in Las Vegas, North America and globally.
It received 46.7% of the public vote for the 'Best Casino in the US', meaning it beat second-place MGM Grand and third-placed Caesars Palace.
Bellagio also won awards for the 'Best Casino in Las Vegas', 'Best Poker Room', 'Best Casino For Bachelor and Bachelorette Parties', 'Most Instagrammable Casino' and 'Casino with the Best Food Options'.
Other casino winners
Outside of Las Vegas, in Atlantic City Caesars took the award, while Seminole Hard Rock Tampa was voted 'Best Casino in Florida' and Parx Casino took the accolade as 'Best Casino in Pennsylvania'.
Fallsview Casino Resort was voted 'Best Casino in Canada', and, in Europe, the Hippodrome in London performed well too.
It picked up the awards for 'Best Casino in London' and 'Best Casino in the UK'. Its Heliot Steak House was named 'Best Casino Restaurant', and the venue was also voted as the 'Best Celebrity-Spotting Casino'.
The former Hippodrome, theatre, music hall, and nightclub opened as a casino in 2012. In February this year, the Hippodrome welcomed its 20 millionth customer and is the UK's largest casino, with gaming and entertainment spread across five floors of the venue.
