Millenium Dome Make-Over

London’s Millenium Dome is to be bought and transformed into a glittering casino by South African gambling tycoon Sol Kerzner.

Built at a cost of more than £800 million (S$2.54 billion) to mark the year 2000, London's Millennium Dome was closed in 2001 and costs millions of pounds a year in public money to maintain.

The casino, by contrast, is expected to bring in much more than that annually, and will be combined with a 600-bed hotel, thousands of new apartment homes and berths for luxury yachts.

The developers even plan to explore the feasibility of letting medium-sized cruise ships anchor in the River Thames to bring in overseas players.

In true Las Vegas-style tradition, there will also be dancing girls and international singers to attract customers.

The development of the Dome into a giant luxury casino is made possible by the government's decision last month to allow giant Las Vegas- and Atlantic City-style gambling palaces in Britain.