Las Vegas welcomes new Asian-focused Lucky Dragon casino

Las Vegas welcomed its newest casino on the weekend, but if you made it inside, you might have believed you were in Macau.

Friday saw the soft opening of the Lucky Dragon, the first new casino to be built from the ground up in Vegas since the ill-fated Cosmopolitan opened in 2010. The property, located on Sahara Avenue just off the Las Vegas Strip, is scheduled to have its official grand opening on December 3.

The Lucky Dragon is smaller than the behemoths that have opened in Vegas in the past few decades, featuring only 203 hotel rooms. The gaming floor is also smaller, only around 27,500-square feet.

The Nevada Gaming Commission gave the Lucky Dragon its approval last month. General Manager Matthew Harkness told the Commission that while the casino floor wasn’t large, “it does have a much bigger feel to it when you walk in.”