Penthouse wants piece of the Strip

Penthouse CEO Marc Bell is going public with plans to buy a "significant property" on the Las Vegas Strip and join the casino wars.

"The best time to buy is in a down economy," said the South Florida financier, whose business plan includes tying in his 10,000-Web site empire, most of them social networking sites, to generate business.

"We have no intention to rebrand the name of the hotel. We would like to see a Penthouse casino presence and a Penthouse pool presence," Bell told Vegas Confidential during an interview at Planet Hollywood Resort in what is known as the "Stripper suite."

His Web sites have 200 million members, including "phenomenal" numbers in Europe and Asia. Penthouse launched a cable television network in January and already has signed up 30 million homes, with another 30 million anticipated by next year, he said.

"It's about rethinking the way of how people think of casinos in Las Vegas, coming in with a new paradigm. Everyone tries doing cookie cutters, doing the same thing over and over again, and we believe it's time to create a new widget."

Bell said he has been talking to "numerous people and we are actively trying to find a hotel on the Strip to buy. A place where we can have the most impact ... only if it would be a significant property.

"We're looking to make a presence, take something and clean it up and fix it up and give it a new image," he said.

Penthouse's global reach allows it to reach one in four people who use the Internet.

The ranks of the casino dealers could be stocked with models from the magazine.

"We think it would be a tremendous draw," Bell said.

Asked if he envisioned a day when Penthouse could have strippers performing inside a hotel, Bell said, "I would have to imagine at some point we would be able to, as entertainment gets more risqué on the Strip, as Vegas gets more back to its roots."

Penthouse, founded in 1965 in the United Kingdom and moved to the United States four years later, competed with Playboy for years before both fell on tough times.

"We already dwarf the size of Playboy in terms of our global reach," Bell said "We far surpass anything Playboy ever dreamed."

PUIT BOOKS IN PIPELINE

Glenn Puit, who covered the cops and courts for the Review-Journal for more than a decade, continues to churn out Las Vegas-related true-crime books.

"Father of the Year," his book on convicted double killer Bill Rundle, who was named Father of the Year in Las Vegas, comes out in May.

His book on the death of former Nevada state Controller Kathy Augustine has a fall release date.

Now an investigative reporter in Michigan, Puit earlier published books on Brookey Lee West, whose 20-year crime and killing spree ended in Las Vegas, and bodybuilder Craig Titus and his fitness champion wife, Kelly Ryan. Titus and Ryan were accused of killing their personal assistant.

Sightings

San Francisco Giants pitcher Tim Lincecum, named the National League Cy Young Award winner last week, was among a group of big leaguers at the Palms this weekend for a poker tournament. Others included: CC Sabathia, who is weighing a record contract offer from the New York Yankees; Philadelphia Phillies slugger Ryan Howard, Bobby Bonilla and Mike Piazza.

   Monday 11-17-08

'Joe the Plumber' too booked for LV

Efforts to bring "Joe the Plumber" to the Global Gaming Expo have gone down the drain.

Joe the Plumber had commitments to be Joe the Opportunist.

Ohio plumber Joe Wurzelbacher was listed among the lineup of celebrities heading for the world's largest gaming trade show, which is being held this week at the Las Vegas Convention Center.

His newly hired agent, Nashville, Tenn., public relations guru Jim Della Croce, is on a how-to-brand-your-casino panel at the trade show, and thought Wurzelbacher's presence would translate into good exposure.

But he has guest appearances in Los Angeles this week and a commitment to work on his new book in Dallas.

"He's a great example of someone who's got their 15 minutes of fame and is trying to capitalize on it," said Clinton Billups, an entertainment executive with G2E.

Della Croce put Joe the Plumber on the phone with me Sunday for an update on his life since becoming a media sensation after his name was invoked by both candidates in the presidential election.

Life won't be normal anytime soon, he said. He made national headlines in late September when his question about tax policy resulted in a response by Barack Obama that he wants to "spread the wealth" around by raising taxes on families earning more than $250,000 a year.

Joe the Plumber might find himself in that tax bracket.

He said he had 10 different letters from 10 different writers who wanted to do his book.

"It wasn't easy to turn down $1 million," he said. He settled on Austin, Texas, writer and publisher Tom Tabback to help him write "Joe the Plumber -- Fighting for the American Dream." It is to be released Dec. 1.

Offers of all kinds came at him: radio show host ("I'm looking into it"), endorsements for plumbing products, clothing lines (low-rider pants, perhaps? Or belts, we hope), guest appearances on TV and radio and as a political headliner.

A lady recently pitched him, he said, on toilet seat stickers that read: "Flush Out Washington" and "Hire Me to Spread the Wealth."

Billups, who stressed he is apolitical in his G2E position, added another possibility: Joe the Plumber would be a draw for casinos in states "that went red in the election."

Sightings

Vice President-elect Joe Biden, shaking hands with churchgoers at the 8 a.m. Mass at the Shrine of the Most Holy Redeemer. He had about a dozen Secret Service agents with him. ... Prince, showing up at Tao, in The Venetian, about 2:30 a.m. Sunday and settling into a loft table with an exotic beauty. ... Brock Lesnar, celebrating his UFC heavyweight title win Saturday over Randy Couture, with his pregnant wife and about 60 friends in a private dining room at Shibuya, the Japanese restaurant at the MGM Grand. The new champ took time to accommodate several fans who posed with him and his championship belt. ... Couture, being greeted with chants of "Randy, Randy" as he arrived Saturday with wife Kim at Studio 54, in MGM Grand, after the fight. Also at the after-party: hip-hop mogul Suge Knight and UFC ring announcer Bruce Buffer. ... At the UFC event Saturday night: 50 Cent, boxer Ricky Hatton, and actors Mandy Moore, Laura Prepon and Rob Schneider. ... Also at Tao: Moore, celebrating with friend Kenny Florian, who won his UFC 91 lightweight match with Joe "Daddy" Stevenson. ... Moore also hosted at Pure, in Caesars Palace, on Saturday. ... The cast of vampire flick "Twilight," one of the most anticipated fall releases, greeted wildly by a huge crowd of fans at Saturday's release party at Privé, in Planet Hollywood Resort. Earlier the cast members -- Ashley Greene, Billy Burke, Kellan Lutz and Peter Facinelli -- dined at Strip House. ... "Deal or No Deal" host Howie Mandel, meeting Danny Gans backstage after his show Saturday at The Mirage and announcing, "You are the real deal."