Celebrity Gossip From Las Vegas With Robin Leach | Luxe Life Digest

Hart's face is off-limits, he says ("I don’t think my wife would like that"), but that doesn't mean to say he's done. And wife Pink, he points out, has about a dozen pieces of skin art herself. "It definitely is a lifestyle, something that people take very seriously," Carey continues, "I have about 70 hours [of tattoo time] in my back, so if you figure $150-$200 an hour for 70 hours, it is not a cheap habit. Look at it this way, you can go buy a BMW for 50 grand and you drive it for 3-4 years and it is gone, or you can spend 50 grand on a tattoo, and it is there for the rest of your life." And even though he admits tattoos fade, he says, "I am looking forward to the day when my tattoos are all crappy looking and smeared and blobbed out because I have had them along time. It is a part of my life and my history."

"You would be amazed at what artists are doing with tattoos these days," says Hart, "beautiful airbrushed, intricate art pieces." The mechanics have not changed in 60 years, Carey says -- in fact, one of his artists, Clark Noir, has been in the game for the last 30 -- but inks have improved significantly, as have the artists.

Carey confirmed that he's in final negotiations to open Huntington & Hart parlors at the Orlando, Florida Universal City Walk (next to Hard Rock Live) and in Waikiki, Hawaii (next to Louis Vuitton). He also has designs (no pun intended) on Melbourne, Australia and Japan locations soon.

Best known perhaps for his 'Man Show,' 'Loveline' and 'Crank Yankers' TV programs, Adam Carolla recorded his morning radio show (which recently replaced Howard Stern in several cities) from ghostbar at the Palms last week, so it was natural that Palms owner George Maloof would be on hand for an interview. Other guests included NASCAR champion Kurt Busch, magician Penn Jillette, rock band Puddle of Mudd, and of course our mayor of mirth Oscar Goodman. Adam told me: "We'll come back as often as we can to Vegas to do remote broadcasts. Our guests love being here, and so do our advertisers."

And now, the big bucks, as promised: Every year, prestigious money magazine Forbes ranks its list of the world's top billionaires, and it's extraordinary that 14 of them have links to Vegas, or actually live here! As one would expect, being owner of a resort casino is a safe bet for inclusion:

• 72-year-old Venetian owner Sheldon Adelson has an estimated net worth of $16.1 billion – even after giving away multi-millions to charity as Vegas’ most generous benefactor. He placed highest at #14.
• Rival Wynn owner Steve Wynn came in at #365 with an estimated net worth of $2.1 billion. His partner in the hotel, Japanese mogul Kazuo Okada (the Japanese restaurant there is named after him) had a net worth of $1.2 billion and ranked #645.
• 70-year-old Carl Icahn, who owns the Stratosphere and Arizona Charlies casinos, placed at #53, with an estimated net worth of $8.7 billion.
• Neck and neck – tied at #53 and $8.7 billion -- was 88-year-old Kirk Kerkorian, majority owner of MGM Mirage.
• Viacom owner Sumner Redstone, 82, who is a frequent Vegas gambler, ranked #63, with a net worth of $7.7 billion
• William Boyd, chairman of Boyd Gaming, has an estimated net worth of $1.4 billion placing him at #562. FYI, he’s the man who'll pull the implosion switch on the Stardust later this year and convert it into the newest luxury Echelon project.
• Phil Ruffin, the 78-year-old owner of the next-door-neighbor New Frontier --which is also set for demolition and rebuild -- has $1.3 billion in the #606 slot (His partner Donald Trump -- they are building his first condo hotel tower here -- ranked #278, with an estimated net worth of $2.6 billion).
• Ed Roski, the 67-year-old owner of the Silverton, placed #698 with a net worth estimated at $1.1 billion.

Outside of gaming, the list included 38-year-old E-Bay co-founder Pierre Omidyer, at #43 with $10.7 billion. He's building one of the largest homes in the world here on 7 acres of land (in fact, it's seven one-acre lots taking one entire street)! Three members of the Mars candy family, who own the Henderson-based Ethel M Chocolate company here, each had over $109 billion, coming in equally at #44. And 79-year-old Bruton Smith, whom we introduced to you earlier as owner of Las Vegas Motor Speedway and developer of the new Trophy Towers at trackside, came in at the #562 pole position, with an estimated $1.4 billion.

Congratulations to all of them for proving hard work, discipline, dedication and determination can pay huge dividends! More importantly, though, we tip our hats to them with a sincere thank you for their extraordinary charitable gifts that help make the world a better place.

If there's a common denominator in these gents, it's that they are restless and never sit back on their laurels. Adelson, who is currently adding another 3,300 Palazzo suites to his already-4,300 room Venetian hotel (to become the largest in the world) is about to open the poshest poker palace in the world. He shelled out $2.6 million for his 11,000-sq. ft. palatial poker parlor, complete with butler service and gourmet dining. It opens April 2, with state-of-the-art technology, including 21 42” plasma TV monitors, safe deposit boxes, and all-smoke-free! Poker has become a prince in Vegas.

And now comes word of a $20 million game held at Steve Wynn’s hotel. Apparently, self-made Texas billionaire banker Andy Beal spent much of last month playing head-to-head Texas Hold’em games against some of the best high-stakes poker players in the world, with stakes ranging from $30,000 up to $100,000 and an average pot size per hand of over $300,000 -- the largest at $1.9 mil. Twenty of the world’s best poker players, including Phil Ivey, Todd Brunson, Ted Forrest and Jennifer Harman, competed. They had to combine bankrolls to play against Beal, each side starting with at least $10 million on the table plus millions more in reserve. Wins and losses ran as high as $10 million in one single day, and one session alone featured two $8 million swings. Poker columnist Michael Craig of Bluff Magazine was the only journalist permitted tableside to document the action, and you can read an excerpt of his story at www.bluffmnagazine.com. It’s the 5th year that the banker, who admits to a theoretical mathematics hobby, has played this way. He once won $12 million in a single day!