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Why Nicky Hilton, Kelly Monaco and Kevin Federline get money
and freebies to show up at Las Vegas nightclubs.
In the early hours of saturday, May 20, Kelly Monaco was celebrating
her 30th birthday at the Las Vegas nightclub Jet at the Mirage. Amid
the strobe lights and pulsating hip-hop in a roped-off vip section
right behind the deejay, the star of soap operas and ABC's Dancing With
the Stars was grinding with friends. Outside, hundreds of clubgoers
negotiated with the doormen for the right to drop $1,000 on a few
bottles of Grey Goose and catch a glimpse of the B-lister.
Monaco wasn't a paying guest. On the contrary, she was paid to be
there. In exchange for letting Jet advertise her birthday party at the
club in mass e-mails and on Web sites, Monaco and her entourage of
eight were given first-class airfare from Los Angeles to Las Vegas,
rooms at the Bellagio, free booze and a few thousand in chips to
gamble. The deal was worth maybe $10,000.
"Everyone pays celebrities to come to their clubs," says Andrew Sasson,
co-owner of Jet, as well as Light at the Bellagio. "It's all part of
the marketing in this business. Anyone who tells you they don't is
lying. The question is: Do you pay with cash, or provide a jet, a meal,
drinks and hotel rooms?"
The presence of celebs is especially valuable in drawing younger people
in the wee hours when gambling is slow. Venetian President Robert
Goldstein says a new $30 million club called Tao draws a "younger,
hipper demographic," who have a "material impact" late night at the
casino. To the club owners, it's cheap marketing. On any given Friday
night as many as 5,000 people party at the nightclub Pure at Caesars
Palace casino. Roughly half pay a $40 cover charge. At that rate the
club can sometimes cover the cost of a celebrity before selling a drop
of booze.
Nicky Hilton and her boyfriend, Kevin Connolly, were paid $75,000 each
to host Pure's New Year's Eve party. Fergie, a singer in the pop group
The Black Eyed Peas, was paid $50,000 to have her birthday party at the
club. Britney Spears' husband, Kevin Federline, got $30,000 to show up.
The competition over stars can get rough. A few months ago Pure was
rumored to have offered the five stars of HBO's Entourage $15,000 each
to have a wrap party after shooting an episode in Sin City. The party
was reportedly called off after the Hard Rock Hotel & Casino
complained it was deserving of the exposure since it had put the cast
and crew up at the hotel.
George Maloof Jr. started the Hollywood trend in Vegas in 2001 with his
Palms casino resort just off the Strip. Maloof courted stars like
Britney Spears and Shaquille O'Neal, and his clubs Rain and Ghostbar
flourished.
Victor Drai, managing partner of Tryst at Wynn Las Vegas, finds the
trend ridiculous: "I don't pay celebrities anything. And if they want
to drink here, they're going to pay. They're stars. They can afford it.".
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