Wander down the Edgeware Road, home of awesome kebab shops and plentiful hookahs (the middle eastern things you smoke, not the other kind, you filthy beast) and you will come across the Grosvenor Victoria Casino, heralded by possibly the dirtiest sign ever displayed. It’s just off the main road, and is spread across three stories.
You could consider the Victoria the grand old lady of London casinos – time was it was the biggest, until young upstarts the Empire and the Hippodrome opened up in and around Leicester Square. If they’re young upstarts, of course Aspers Westfield Stratford City would be the musclebound teenage bully loitering in the background. At this point I might give up on this metapahor, it’s stretched far enough to pop like an overinflated balloon (is a metaphor about a metaphor a meta-metaphor ? It’s all getting a bit Inception ….)
Aaaanyway, reception’s on the ground floor, leading to the main gaming area on the first floor. It’s a huge site, with a variety of gaming options including a rare Craps table and a vast quantity of electronic roulettes. They also have a unique 3 leaf Punto Banco game, all designed to get the maximum number of players for the minimum number of staff, although all that’s been slightly superseded by the Novomatic electronic kit, where you can play Punto from the live dealt cards anywhere in the club. On the far side of the casino are the slots, all top of the range kit, and very, very, busy even during the day. They also feature fabulously comfortable seats, although the same can’t be said of the electronic roulette stools, which are like sitting on a tea tray.
The décor of the place overall is very well done, it’s obviously taken care of well, although the carpet seems to have some sort of optical illusion in it, I feel like I am still seeing spots the day after my visit. Perhaps it’s got a subliminal “blow your cash” message in it – if so, it worked for me, the Blackjack game I sat on was brutal.
When I visited they were at the start of a major poker tour event (the UKIPT) with a corresponding outbreak of indoor sunglasses, oversized headphones and verbal bullshit, but it brought a lot of atmosphere to the site. The poker room is normally the second floor area, and is renowned for great cash action throughout the day and night.
There is a bar on each floor and a restaurant upstairs too, so everything you’d expect from a flagship site. You can’t consider yourself a UK casino afficianado without a visit to the Vic, so take a look for yourself someday.
