"The entire world," he said cooly, "is our home port."īut residents say that with the opening of the American-style Loew's hotel and casino a couple of years ago, Monte Carlo became appealing to people who, well, who actually work for a living. I asked the captain if Monte Carlo was the Nabila's home port. Its heating vents slant upward from the bridge, and a couple of $200,000-plus cigarette boats, as sleek as quick-looking as their mother ship, are tucked on the middle deck of the Nabila.
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Saudi Arabian businessman Adnan Khashoggi often docks his boat there, a sleek, gray, villa-sized vessel called the Nabila that looks like the villian's ship in an Ian Fleming novel. Monte Carlo's harbor is filled with the yachts of the very rich. Now, sandwiched in the one-half square mile between Monaco's dramatic cliffs and the Mediterranean, studio apartments in high-rise condominiums begin at $300,000.
#SCOTCH NO JUNKIT FREE#
And free of income, property and inheritance taxes, Monaco quickly found favor among those who have the most to be taxed. Today, Rolls Royces joust for parking spaces outside the palacial casino that, as European aristocracy flocked to gamble there, made Monte Carlo the premiere jewel in the Cote d'Azur's necklace. Until 1860, Monaco was a scrubby principality blessed only with abundant sunshine, olive trees and fields of violets. I resisted the temptation to call Helga Orfila and gloat, packed my tuxedo, and left to find out what Monte Carlo had that Ocean City lacked.įoremost, there is the gambling. Purses at big tournaments can total tens of thousands of dollars, and side bets can double or triple a player's winnings. And what labor expert players must do to stay solvent - rolling dice onto backgammon boards - is generally accomplished in the shade of palm trees like congressional junkets, tournaments are held in sunny climes. Most of the best players feel right at home in Monte Carlo, because like many of the principality's residents, they don't hold regular jobs. Skill is critical to winning, but, unlike chess, the dice add an element of luck that makes the game exciting in its unpredictability. Players with last names like Maxaculi, Bellavita, Cojab and Abimerhi would mix with gamblers and their groupies at the bar of the Hotel de Paris.īackgammon appeals to the wealthy because it is a fast game that lends itself easily to betting. A wealthy young Iranian couple no longer welcome in their homeland would be there.
#SCOTCH NO JUNKIT PRO#
To the Monte Carlo tournament come the world's best backgammon players, including the tournament's organizer from London, Lewis Deyong, a fast-talking gamblr who knows every pro and can st odds at the drop of a bet.The feared Gino Scalamandre, backgammon book author and champion player, would be there, along with Joe Dwek - a British citizen born in Cairo with the fast, dark eyes of a cobra - who makes his living winning games of chance in the world's capitals. As consolation, they suggested I compete in Monte Carlo, where Black & White of Europe annually joins Merit cigarettes in sponsoring what they like the press to refer to as "the Wimbledon of backgammon." But before I could collect, the scotch folks decided to change their promotion strategy in North America and to stop underwriting backgammon competitions.
![scotch no junkit scotch no junkit](https://macaubusiness.s3.ap-southeast-1.amazonaws.com/2021/05/IMG-20210508-WA0006-504x304.jpg)
As my prize, I was to have been sent to play in the national championship in Los Angeles. In a hard-fought duel of the dice in Georgetown last fall, I'd beaten Helga Orfila, wife of Organization of American States chief Alejandro Orfila, to win a division of a backgammon tournament sponsored by Black & White scotch.
#SCOTCH NO JUNKIT PROFESSIONAL#
This year, by chance, I was invited to compete in the Sixth Annual Merit World Backgammon Championship along with a bevy of countesses, princes and other professional sharpies. At night, the sunbathers don resort white and fill the restaurants, discos and casinos, where Europeans play roulette while Americans crowd the blackjack tables.Īnd once a year, several thousand people arrive to play in the world's richest and most prestigious backgammon tournament. During summer days, everyone is on the beach, some of the women bathing topless, their men ordering champagne from refrigerated drink carts. While the rest of the world works, Monte Carlo plays. "You aren't working for a living are you?" "Darling, you look so pale," she said with obvious concern. IN MONTE CARLO one day last July, a tanned, middle-aged woman stepped onto a private beach and spied an old acquaintance.