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Nouveau Riche Guide to Blowing a Million Bucks in Vegas

When anyone asks me where to stay, eat and play while in Vegas, I answer the question with a question: "How much money do you have to spend?" Let's face it, money is the reason Vegas exists. There is something fun for every budget, but before I can dispense recommendations for a French restaurant, I need to know if we're talking Guy Savoy at Caesars or the Chicken Cordon Bleu sandwich at Arby's.

What if you had $1 million to spend in Vegas and 48 hours to do it? It's easy enough to put that chunk of change on the roulette wheel or play a few hands of high stakes poker, but that's a few minutes of fun and then what?

Here's some of the best ways to blow your noveau fortune:

WHERE TO STAY
First thing you need to do is find a suitable suite to brush your teeth and gussy up before heading back out to the tables or clubs. If you actually find the time or energy to sleep, good luck, but in any case, you have a million dollars, the money isn't going to spend itself and you have appearances to keep.

Vegas' most opulent suites used to be reserved exclusively for invitation-only casino high rollers -- "whales" with multi-million dollar credit lines and minimum bets of $100,000 a hand. Now, a lottery scratch-off winner, reality show winner or anyone with the cash, can reserve one of these neon palaces.

Hefner Sky Villa Pool at Palms

The most expensive suite in Vegas, and perhaps the world, is the $40,000 a night Hugh Hefner Sky Villa on the 34th and 35th floors of the Palms Fantasy Tower. For the $.46 you're spending each second, you may want to invite 20-30 friends to hang out with you in the cantilevered outdoor pool jacuzzi (pictured). The suite is modeled after the Playboy Mansion in California and also features a round, revolving bed with mirrored ceiling and artwork including Hef originals and prints of the Marilyn Monroe and Pamela Anderson Playboy photo shoots.

If $40,000 a night seems too extravagant, try some of the Palms Fantasy Suites. The more modest Hardwood Suite houses a basketball half-court, a bar, a locker room, an oversized bed and great views for only $25,000 a night. For $15,000 each night, you can bowl naked in the Kingpin Suite which features two bowling lanes, a bar and plenty of room to spread out.

Cris Suite at Palms in Vegas

If you want to divert even more of your lodging funds to your gambling budget, try the Crib Suite (pictured above) for $4000 a night. You can hire a star DJ for a few thousand dollars and throw a great party. In keeping the hip-hop theme, the hydraulic beds make for a great time, but will ruin you for regular, non-Craftmatic beds. The Crib Suite also has one of the fantasy suite Show Showers which translates "a pole in the shower with windows." You can figure out the uses.

If you're looking for something more classic Vegas, try the Verona Suite at Las Vegas Hilton which has more than 25 televisions, six fireplaces and his and her jacuzzis. The nightly tab is $17,500 which is a little more than $1 a square foot.

TOYS & OTHER VICES
Koenigsegg CCX at Exotic Cars at Caesars Palace
Exotic Cars at Caesars Palace has more than 40 cars priced more than $1 million and it is the only Koenigsegg dealer in the U.S. As such, this hot rod heaven is the only place around here to get the Koenigsegg CCX, the U.S. version of the world's fastest production car. The highly sought super-car will set you back around $700K before options so trick it out a little bit, but keep a little cash so you can afford the continually rising gas prices.

Whether it's suites or cars, Vegas casinos are competing for high rollers from Macau to Dubai and if one of the luxury casinos gets an exotic car dealership, chances are they'll all get them. Wynn Las Vegas has a Penske Ferrari Maserrati dealership and in the last couple of years, a Lamborghini dealership opened nearby and King of Cars has a Rolls Royce Bentley dealership.

Wynn Golf Course is $500 a round

Feeling active? Treat a few friends to $500 rounds of golf. If you're staying at Wynn Las Vegas, you can play the only course on the Strip (above) even getting a suite right on the links. If you're pimping it up at Bellagio, the Mansion or the Sky Lofts at MGM Grand, you're eligible to play Shadow Creek and if you're at Caesars or any of its sister properties, go to Cascata.

Before hitting the links, head over to one of the Davidoff shops in Vegas to grab some stogies. Spend 1 percent of your fortune on a $1,000 box of Fuente OpusX cigars and for added effect, you can either light your cigars with $100 bills or splurge on a $40,000 lighter.

If fashion is your passion, you can probably unload one-third of your million dollars on clothes, shoes and accessories, easy. Your first stop should be The Forum Shops at Caesars. There, you can clean out Jimmy Choos with shoes about $500 a pop. You'll probably spend the rest of the day at boutiques like Armani, Versace, Gucci and Robert Cavalli, but if you have the time, stop by Harry Winston's for a $12,000 watch.

If you still have a shopping bug, cross the Strip and swing into the Esplanade at Wynn Las Vegas. Cartier, Manolo, Gaultier, Chanel and Vuitton will help your mission by taking some of that cash off of your hands in exchange for luxury goods. The quintessential mall in Vegas is Fashion Show Mall and while there are some high-end options there, you only have 48 hours so it's better to stick in the boutiques where it's much easier to drop $20,000 for a couple of outfits. If you do make it Fashion Show Mall, focus on the Sharper Image for the $1,000 Connoisseur Collection of Trump Steaks, a $4,500 robot massage chair, a $5,000 Lord of the Rings pinball machine, a $5,000 7-foot Superman statue and a $9,000 Harley-Davidson jukebox. This might put you over your carry on limit for your flight home, so you may need to set some cash aside for shipping.

FINE DINING & THE $6,000 COMBO MEAL
Some of the most expensive meals can be found at the top French restaurants. Both Guy Savoy at Caesars and Joel Robuchon at the Mansion will lighten your wallet by about $300 per person so be a hero and buy dinner for the whole restaurant. You're on a timeframe here and need to rack up the receipts.

You can head back to the Palms and order the $6,000 combo meal (above) from room service. It's actually a juicy $6 Carl's Jr. hamburger with a juicier $5994 bottle of '82 Petrus. Oh, you also get a side of fries.

The desert heat makes it necessary to stay hydrated and what better way to get your water than a $150 bottles of BlingH20. It's bottled water in a Swarovski-studded bottle and has been enjoyed by Jamie Foxx, Bono and Paris Hilton.

If your spending spree could last more than a weekend to drop $1 million you could 104 straight days worth of non-stop dances at Scores Las Vegas or watch Cirque du Soleil's 'O' every day for the next 28 years or enter every event in the World Series of Poker for $194,000, but that's for a different story.

Happy spending.

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