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The Venetian Resort Hotel Casino is a luxury hotel and casino resort situated between Harrah's and The Palazzo on the east side of the Las Vegas Strip in Paradise, NV, United States, on the site of the old Sands Hotel. The hotel tower contains 40 stories and rises 475 feet (145 m). The Venetian is owned and operated by the Las Vegas Sands Corporation. The Venetian also serves as the seat of the corporate headquarters for its parent company. This hotel features a life-like replica tower of St Mark's Campanile in Venice, Italy.
The Venetian is (along with the adjacent Sands Expo Convention Center and The Palazzo Hotel and Casino Resort) part of the largest five-diamond hotel and resort complex in the world with 4,049 suites, 4,059 hotel rooms, and a 120,000-square-foot (11,000 m2) casino.
History
On November 26, 1996, eight years after it was bought by Sheldon Adelson, the Sands Hotel was imploded to make way for The Venetian Resort Hotel Casino. Ground was broken April 14, 1997.
The resort opened on May 3, 1999 with flutter of white doves, sounding trumpets and singing gondoliers, with actress Sophia Loren joining The Venetian Chairman and Owner, Sheldon G. Adelson, in christening the first motorized gondola. Built at a cost of $1.5 billion, it was one of the most expensive resorts of its kind when it opened. A brief time line of the hotel's history:
September 24, 1997 — Announcement that the Venetian's Grand Canal Shoppes will be managed by Forest City Commercial Management.
November 14, 1997 — $1,000,000,000 financial package secured.
August 18, 1998 — Venetian Resort tops out.
August 24, 1998 — Venetian begins accepting room reservations, by phone and on-line.
May 3, 1999 — Grand opening of first phase of complex.
October 7 2001 — The Guggenheim Hermitage Museum opened within the resort, featuring its first collection: Masterpieces and Master Collectors: Impressionist and Early Modern Paintings.
August 30, 2002 — The museum opened its second collection: Art Through the Ages: Masterpieces of Painting from Titian to Picasso.
May 15, 2003 — Museum opens third exhibit: American Pop Icons.
June 27, 2003 — The Venezia at the Venetian opened as an additional tower, adding 1,013 suites and a new wedding chapel.
November 7, 2003 — Museum opens exhibit: A Century of Painting: From Renoir to Rothko, featuring paintings by Gauguin, Matisse, Picasso, van Gogh, Renoir, and others.
March 19, 2004 — "The Nevada Gaming Commission Thursday imposed an agreed-upon $1 million fine on The Venetian for rigging contests and violating state gaming regulations but only after chastising other state agencies for not pursuing the case more vigorously. Chairman Peter Bernhard and Commissioner Art Marshall, who called the violations the "most serious" they have dealt with during their tenures on the commission, criticized the state attorney general's office and the Gaming Control Board for taking a year to bring the eight-count complaint before the commission. ... "This is the most serious complaint I've seen since I've been on the commission. The issues go to the heart of the integrity of the industry," Bernhard said. ... The Asian high roller at the center of the case, was preselected to win a Mercedes-Benz. The complaint said a Venetian executive who rigged the drawing with a cohort hid the winning ticket in his shirtsleeve and pretended to draw it randomly from a batch of entries before announcing the "winning" ticket."[2]
October 10, 2005 — Blue Man Group officially opens at the Blue Man Theatre.
June 24, 2006 — Phantom - The Las Vegas Spectacular opened at a new theatre at the Venetian.
Film history
The implosion of the old Sands to clear way for the Venetian was used as the crash landing site in the movie 'Conair'.
Building the Venetian was the subject of an episode of the show MegaStructures.
Various Venetian locations were the setting for the introductory scenes of the 2001 movie, Rat Race.
A suite from the Venetian is featured as a location in the 2005 movie Miss Congeniality 2: Armed and Fabulous
The exterior of the Venetian is portrayed in the movie Resident Evil: Extinction. There is a dramatic zombie attack scene which takes place on the Venetian's replica of the Rialto Bridge.
The Venetian appeared in a scene of the 26th episode of season one of The O.C..
The Venetian (Macao) appeared in episode 13 of the Korean drama Boys Over Flowers.
The music video Shots by LMFAO featuring Lil John was performed at the Venetian
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