If you've been following the celebrity highway maybe you've missed the road signs along the way that told you what celebs are playing lately, which games and where. Forbes came out with a list of the top ten celebrity gamblers and they were: Ben Affleck, Hugh Hefner, Matt Damon, Matthew Perry, Frank Sinatra, The Queen, George Clooney, Marcy Gray, Brad Pitt and Teddy Sheringham.
Of those gamblers, some like to play to the paparazzi while others go to their private gaming quarters. Certain casinos provide special rooms for their upscale and high profile guests. Either way, whether you see them or not, they are there, at these popular destinations: the Bellagio in Las Vegas; The Borgata, Atlantic City, N.J.;The Palms, Las Vegas; The Wynn, Las Vegas; The Venetian, Las Vegas; The Atlantis; Paradise Island, Bahama; Crown Casino; Melbourne, Australia; Foxwoods Resort Casino; and Nantucket, Conn.
But don't think just because you go too, you'll run into anyone famous, The Palms, for example, has a separate area of the casino for celebrities by request, it's a 95,000 square foot casino and people like Ben Affleck, Bruce Willis, Jason Giambi, Ryan Seacrest and Pamela Anderson frequent it. There is a no-limit poker parlor too where Affleck has been going since his early days of gambling. Aren't you jealous? I am, if being famous weren't enough fun already, they get their own private playgrounds underneath the nose of everybody else's fun.
The Borgata in Atlantic City, N.J., based on the East Coast has a 161,000-square-foot casino with 200 gaming tables, 4,100 slot machines, and a separate 85-table poker room and is a quick retreat to celebs based in New York. So, Las Vegas isn't the only destination for celebs when out on the gambling circuit. Atlantic City has recently drawn attention to its parlors with celeb gamblers, Jamie Lynn Sigler, Nick Lachey, Drew Barrymore and Jon Bon Jovi.
Let's take George Clooney, for example, we tend to think about gambling where he's concerned, just because of two past movies he's stared in like Ocean's 11 and Ocean's 12 which center around gambling. But Clooney's interest isn't only on the TV screen, along with Brad Pitt, he's invested in a $3 billion resort in Las Vegas, is the co-owner of Las Ramblas, a casino-hotel-condominium complex. During his filming of Ocean's 12 in Rome he was often seen playing late-night poker with co-stars Brad Pitt, Matt Damon, and guest, Michael Douglas.
Ben Affleck, considered the most serious gambler in Hollywood, in June of 2004, Affleck won first place in a 90 poker player competition in Commerce Casino's California State Poker Championship and won $356, 400 in that event and a $25,000 seat in the 2005 World Poker Tour (WPT) Championship. During this championship, Ben Affleck beat Tobey Maguire, the star from Spider man, another poker player who fares well in these events and who holds regular poker games for high rollers at his home in the Hollywood Hills. He often has poker playing friends join him like Dennis Hopper, Sharon Stone, Robert Downey Jr. and Matthew Perry.
Fighting on the woman's team of gamblers is Jennifer Tilly, veteran and semi-professional poker player. She got involved like many celebrities have in the last few years through playing TV celebrity poker programs. Tilly dated a professional poker player, Phil Laak, who helped coach her. She played at the 2005, World Series of Poker, and outlasted 600 other players in the Ladies' No-Limit Texas Hold-em. She later appeared on NBC on the Tonight Show to talk about her experience at the WSOP. Tilly enjoys playing at The Venetian in Las Vegas along with others like Shannon Elizabeth and James Van Der Beek. The Venetian has a 120,000-square-foot casino, a high-limit salon with more than 20 games including Baccarat and craps. There is also a separate 11,000-square-foot poker room.
Matt Damon, the star of one of the best poker movies ever made, Rounders, was coached by poker legend Johnny Chan during the movie. Damon is passionate about gambling and is considered to be an excellent poker player.
Gamblers like Andy Roddick and Justin Timberlake head down under to Melbourne, Australia to play poker, baccarat and blackjack. Roddick often plays in the Crown Casino in its designated poker room while Maria Sharapova plays there too. Old timer Frank Sinatra, longtime performer in Las Vegas singing 'Ol' Blue Eyes' with his Rat Pack, shared a love of gambling and actually campaigned against the segregation of blacks and whites in Vegas casinos and made way for Sammy Davis Jr. to have fun in Vegas with no hassles.
The Queen of England is an avid gambler in horse racing and can be found regularly cheering on her favorite horses at the tracks. The Queen has a passion for making sports bets and loves slots machines.
Stars like Hugh Hefner keeps his play places updated with a $300 million venue in Fantasy Tower in Las Vegas at the Bellagio. After opening his first Playboy Club in 1960, Hefner has had fun turning many a buck. Other frequent visitors to Bellagio include Jeremy Piven, Matt Damon, Demi Moore, Ashton Kutcher and Alex Rodriguez.
Celebs who like the Wynn in Las Vegas are Warren Buffet, Cuba Gooding Junior, Jessica Biel and Bill Gates. Bill Gates and Warren Buffett play rounds of Texas Hold'em and Omaha Hi-Lo. Macy Gray – very famous singer and songwriter and not forgetting a celeb poker star made her appearance in Bravo’s Celebrity Poker Showdown and completed the contest in third place and is considered one of the top ten celeb gamblers. The last two on the top ten list are Matthew Perry and Teddy Sheringham. Matthew Perry is best known as Chandler Bing from the TV series, 'Friends' and is another gifted poker player. Teddy Sheringham is the longest serving playboy and long-standing on the poker playing circuit. Retired from football he was recently made the Ambassador for online giants VC poker where he will provide support for tournament players.
Finally, for those combo, beach-loving, gambling holidays, for people like Goldie Hawn, Kurt Russell, Dennis Rodman and Carson Daly, The Atlantis on Paradise Island in the Bahamas is the place to go. Overlooking the Atlantic Ocean, The Atlantis is a 60,000-square-foot casino. Hawn and Rodham are fans that have segregated areas with high-limit table games and separate high-limit slot machines. Keep your eyes open for those celebs though: Even if they are behind darkened glass, you never know when you might get lucky and they might come out into the light and rub elbows with the lowlier gamblers in tow, myself included.