Even the biggest whales in Vegas have the occasional bad night, the kind that leaves you wondering whether you’ll have to sell one of your kidneys to afford a plane ticket out of America’s Playground.
The kind that can leave you stripped of everything except the suit on your back, deprived of even the fancy pen with which you intended to sign tomorrow’s deal (you did remember that you came here on business, yes?), not to mention the bill for all those drinks. . . .
And then you stumble into The Palazzo, and see the new S.T. Dupont outlet (the first in the United States) lit like an ultra- elegant spaceship, right across from the Davidoff kiosk (no surprise, considering its managing partner, Matt Arcella, is also co-owner of three Vegas Davidoff stores) and think, Saved! With the few-hundred-dollar roll you found on the carpet by the slots, you scan their impressive display of pens, lighters and leather goods and snatch up one of their fountain pens in Chinese lacquer and yellow gold, and perhaps a lighter from their Prestige Collection.
If there’s any cash left over, head on back to the tables — if you win big (and surely your luck has to change), you can always hand a pen or two to the dealer in lieu of tip. S.T. Dupont at the Palazzo Hotel, Resort and Casino, on the Strip next to The Venetian