Gambling Magnet for the Rich or Money Pit?

Attracting the Jet-Set Crowd

The leftist party that governs Montevideo, home to about half of this country's 3.5 million residents, said that all earnings from the casino will be funneled to poor neighborhoods. But city and federal officials have a higher hope for the project: putting Montevideo on the jet-setter's radar.

The remaining games include 10-cent slot machines with names like "Neon Nights" and "Cleopatra."

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That might be a big gamble. Uruguay has always been overshadowed by its giant neighbors, and Montevideo's reputation as a safer and calmer Buenos Aires has not persuaded many European and American tourists to add a stop across the Río de la Plata to their holiday itinerary.

About a hundred cruise ships stop in Montevideo annually, a third from the United States, according to the Ministry of Tourism. But most passengers who come ashore do little more than feast on barbecue at the Mercado del Puerto or hop on a tourist train to a nearby vineyard. Meanwhile, Brazil and Argentina still account for more than two-thirds of visitors to Uruguay, leaving the country dependent on its beaches and hot springs for tourism earnings.

Two previous attempts to recruit private investors for the Carrasco Casino Hotel failed. The first, in 1997, was quashed by the city council; a later effort was undone by the 2002 economic crisis. Meanwhile, the biggest spenders in Uruguay continue to congregate in Punta del Este, known as the South American Riviera.

But city officials said there is reason to believe the new project could change all that. Montevideo has several luxury hotels, including the Punta Carretas Sheraton and the Radisson in the Plaza Independencia downtown. But none offer the opulence, entertainment and dinning options that keep the Conrad, in Punta del Este, hopping all summer long.