Royal flush

The economy may be struggling , but you'd never know it from the gaming industry's torrid pace. Native American casinos are exploding — 330 of them nationwide, totaling $14.5 billion in revenues, according to the Washington, D.C.-based National Indian Gaming Commission. Las Vegas is keeping pace with ever-larger properties. Even Atlantic City, asleep for more than 10 years, is opening a new resort.

More intriguing is the new emphasis on style, elegance, sophistication — and, yes, even an element of artistic understatement — on the part of gaming operators and their Building Teams.

Resorts are giving gamblers more ways to blow their money on new amenities and entertainment experiences. But Disneyesque kitsch and the loud, smoky, in-your-face clang-clang-clang of slot machines typically associated with Las Vegas-style casinos is going the way of the Sands and the Desert Inn.

Gaming operators know their customers as well as they know the odds and are tailoring properties to serve their every whim.

In this Special Report, you'll learn from the experience of casino developers concepts that could be applied to your next retail mall, office building, courthouse, or church. Today's casinos and mega-resorts also perfect examples of extreme mixed-use facilities, in which each component drives traffic to the other centers of the complex.

In the end, knowing your clients and their customers and meeting their expectations will pay off for your Building Team, just as it is doing for casino operators.