The Las Vegas strip was once notoriously dominated by mob-run casinos from the late '40s through the '80s. Las Vegas police said that the skeletal body found in a metal barrel along Lake Mead's receding shoreline was a man who had died from a gunshot wound sometime between the mid-1970s or early 80s. She then explained that corpse water is traditionally used in witchcraft, which goes along with the theme of her shop: dark magic and fantasy. And that just kind of worked out when we found out that there was a corpse floating in a barrel. 'Most of us who have lived in Vegas for a long time have been questioning our water quality for years. Hanks further told KTLA that her marketing idea started as a joke and that the water bottles were made to boost the shop's online presence. It’s just for entertainment purposes, do not ingest.' 'I don’t want to steal water from Lake Mead to sell to people, but it’s a nice little concoction of water, some witch hazel, some glass rocks, dirt, and some green mica to give it a little bit of a green tint to it. The shop owner said that she prefers to not take any water from the largest reservoir in the U.S., which has seen its water levels dramatically decrease over the past three decades. The water, named 'Lake Mead Corpse Water,' does not actually come from the lake itself. “The project needs more equity, as they are already up to their leverage ceiling, and future fundraising will only continue to dilute the shareholding.A witchcraft store in Las Vegas is selling 'corpse water,' just a few weeks after a body in a barrel was found at the bottom of Lake Mead.Ĭharlie Hanks, the owner of Blaspheme Boutique, came up with the idea as she was inspired by the creepy discoveries that were made earlier in May. “Some of the original investors had already taken haircuts to exit the project, and they were the fortunate ones,” said Lee. Some, including the Ontario Teachers Pension Fund, have cut their losses and bailed out early. Interested parties like Janus Capital, Fidelity International and Omega Advisors have watched shares in 13 Holdings plummet by 92 percent since 2013, dwindling to little more than penny stocks. Needless to say, investors are getting ansty. “This hotel was exceptional in that it was positioned in the ultra-stratospheric segment,” he told Bloomberg “That market segment has long disappeared in the aftermath of the anti-ostentation campaign, and it’s a wonder they never revised their business plan and structure when they still had the opportunity to do so.” Investor Jittersġ3 has not pivoted, although it should have, says Ben Lee, of Asian gaming consultancy, IGamiX. Meanwhile, Macau has pivoted towards the mass market and regulators are unlikely to look favourably on a prospective operator that goes against the grain. The problem for 13 is that licensing regulations have tightened since the crackdown. Bloomberg said this week that despite several share placements to raise money, as well as “a number of loans,” 13 Holdings still faces a funding shortfall of about $400 million.Įven if it had been in a position to open on Monday, it does not yet have a gaming license and would have only been able to function as a hotel.īut without a casino downstairs, it would hardly be able to justify the $1,500-a-night price tag (entry-level) for the rooms, even if they do some with marble Roman baths for eight and a custom red Rolls Royce. That opening date was a condition for a $384 million loan from the Bank of Communications Company. Having sought $1.2 billion in investment for the project, 13 Hotel was supposed to open on Monday (July 31), but it didn’t. Talk about a bad break.Įnvisaged as a homage to Louis XIII’s opulent baroque tastes, Hung sought to build the “Palace of Versailles in Macau,” a hotel casino exclusively for the super-rich. Luck is all about timing, of course, and the flamboyant investment banker Stephen Hung’s dream of building a palace to ostentatious wealth came at exactly the time that China’s Communist government launched an unprecedented crackdown on displays of ostentatious wealth. But all is not well amid the baroque wall hangings and rococo frescos of The 13 Hotel. Stephen Hung, the flamboyant CEO of 13 Holdings, poses in front of his pink Rolls Royce with his model wife Deborah Valdez-Hung. Thirteen, in Chinese culture, is actually a lucky number, but for the 13 Hotel, the western interpretation is proving to be more apt.
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