Hippodrome gamblers strike it lucky with dancing girls

The West End’s Hippodrome Casino has opened a new subterranean gambling venue with dancing girls performing in cages above card and roulette tables.

The Las Vegas-style Lola’s Underground Casino is believed to be a first for Britain, where casinos were highly restricted in the entertainment they could offer until less than a decade ago.

The venue is named after Lola McGuire, an Edwardian chorus girl famous for organising illicit card games and drinking parties.

Burlesque dancer Polly Rae, who is creative director of Lola’s, said: “I’ve worked internationally and done a lot of stuff in Las Vegas where this has been happening for years.

“Having the girls perform in these circus-like tiger cages while the audience can sit at the gambling tables or at the bar really creates an atmosphere where everything is sort of happening all at once. It’s going to be phenomenal. It literally is like going through the door to Narnia. The moment you walk down that staircase you’re not in the Hippodrome casino any more, you’re in Lola’s Casino. The dark, sexy atmospheric energy just transports you.”

The new casino is below the main auditorium of the former theatre in a space that originally housed a 100,000 gallon water tank, animal cages and props rooms.

The number of gamblers visiting the Hippodrome, which opened on Leicester Square in July 2012, has hugely exceeded initial forecasts of about 20,000 a week and now stands at about 32,000. Owner Simon Thomas said: “To accommodate future growth we wanted to be well prepared and open a casino that echoes what Vegas does brilliantly — putting the entertainment on the same floor as the gambling, much closer to the tables. Hitherto this this would have been impossible for any UK casino, but we’re bringing to life the vision and spirit of the 2005 Gaming Act which now allows venues like ours to offer a much more rounded entertainment experience.”

Opening hours are 6pm to 6am with dance performances from 8pm to 2am.