Blackjack, roulette, poker - Bollywood stars go for it in Macau

MACAU - A bevy of Bollywood stars attending the ongoing International Indian Film Academy (IIFA) event here is loving Macau for the one thing it can’t do in India officially - gambling.

Whether it is blackjack, roulette, poker or even just slot machines, actors and filmmakers are betting sums of money on the playing tables.

While actors like Zayed Khan, Lara Dutta and Riteish Deshmukh have already hit the casinos, others like Amitabh Bachchan and Javed Akhtar preferred to stay away from the stalls at the lavish Venetian Macau-Resort here. Australian singer Peter Andre also stayed away.

Genelia D’Souza and Ashutosh Gowariker who arrived Thursday are waiting to try their luck.

Some roulette sound bytes of the stars:

Amitabh Bachchan: I don’t gamble.

Lara Dutta: I played a little bit last night. Riteish (Deshmukh) taught me how to gamble - that is going to come handy for both of us later, but it’s fun and exciting. I even won though I don’t usually gamble because I don’t know how to play.

Peter Andre: I don’t know if I will play at the casino or not. Actually my dad doesn’t like it.

Genelia D’Souza: I am definitely going to be visiting the casinos here… Life is all about fun. I don’t know how to play at the casino, but I am hoping to take some tips from here.

R. Madhavan: We go there (casinos) and pay our dues. I am not very good at it. I just play on slot machines and hope I hit the jackpot - that’s all.

Neil Nitin Mukesh: No casinos for me.

Javed Akhtar: I have more interest in going to see the old churches - they are very beautiful. Today I saw very old churches - almost 400 years old - they were lovely.

Sushmita Sen: I will hopefully try my luck at the casino a little bit because I suppose this place (Venetian Macau-Resort) has the world’s largest casino.

Kabir Bedi: I play poker and I don’t find many places in the world where I can play it in a lovely atmosphere. So when I am here, I am sure I will play. I usually win some, lose some, but I don’t play by the extremes.

Ashutosh Gowariker: I want to go to the casinos. I want to go there with 1,000 dollars and probably end up with 10,000 dollars by the end of the night.

Rakeysh Omprakash Mehra: I am not so lucky in gambling - so I don’t really know, but I guess I must check it out.

Randhir Kapoor: I think I will go to the casinos here. Please wish me luck.

David Dhawan: I did go to the casino yesterday and I lost. But no worries. Tonight I will recover it all.

(Radhika Bhirani can be contacted at radhika.b@ians.in)