PARTY CASINO REVEALS THE MOST FASCINATING ABANDONED GAMING HALLS

The tallest building in Nevada – the 76-storey Fontainebleau casino in Las Vegas – is set to finally open by the end of 2023, having sat vacant since its construction was halted in 2009.

After the recession put a stop to construction of the $2.9 billion structure, it changed hands several times before being reacquired by Fontainebleau in February this year.

While the enormous structure has hardly been abandoned since 2009 – interim owners pumped tens of millions into keeping the infrastructure in mint condition – the story of the Fontainebleau casino highlights the changing fortunes of the gambling industry and shows that, just sometimes, the house doesn’t win.

Online gaming company, Party Casino, has researched the most fascinating abandoned casinos from around the world for, while the Fontainebleau casino is now set to open after all, other establishments have not been so lucky in the hands they have been dealt.

Casino di Consonno, Italy

In the 1960s, the eccentric entrepreneur Count Mario Bagno bought the entire town of Consonno for 22.5 million lire (around £10,000) and razed it to the ground in order to build his brainchild, Citta dei Balocchi – the City of Toys. Designed to be a playground for the wealthy of nearby Milan, the City of Toys was supposed to include everything from a car racing circuit to football fields, a zoo and even a fake castle. The Casino di Consonno was one of the few elements that actually got built and enjoyed a short period of success until the mid-1970s. But the Count’s constantly changing plans meant the ‘city’ was never finished and he abandoned it in 1985. After his death in 1995, his estate shut the whole town and it has been slowly decaying ever since, with the casino the spooky centrepiece of an urban explorer’s dream site.