The grand opening begins with a private party on Thursday evening and runs through the weekend. It's the latest move by a "tasty but rustic" restaurant that began in Clearwater, Florida, in 1983 and has expanded to calendars, merchandise, and even airlines.

"The Hooters client is already a Las Vegas affiliate. It's a little bit funky and a little bit lively, and looking for a place to run. And it all looks great," says Ed DeRoste, one of the six men who founded the Hooters. Four of its original partners own a third of the hotel casinos that they renovated together.

The 696-room hotel, with nine restaurants/bars, is a renovation of the hotel San Remo, which, despite the renovation, offers 14,000 hotel rooms compared to the 5,035-room MGM Grand on the street corner.

First built in 1973, Hotel San Remo has been run by Japan's Izumi family for the past 17 years, retaining its third stake in the rebranding business.

Sales and profits at San Remo have stagnated over the past five years, overshadowing the nearest MGM Grand, New York-New York, Excalibur and Tropicana hotels.

"San Remo was a good little business," says Richard Langlois, senior vice president of marketing at Hooters Casino Hotel. "But this property could be better utilized by brands like Hooters."

The Hooters operator plans to gain an annual customer base of about 61 million at about 400 restaurants in the U.S., Canada, Europe, South America, Asia and the Caribbean.

Information and reservation hotlines have been set up at 80 restaurants in the Southwest region, and employees will be offered discounts and free rooms to facilitate reservations, management said.

Negotiations are underway to transport customers to Las Vegas via Hooters and Hooters Air in the United States, they said. The Atlanta-based company acquired the franchise and licensing rights from its founder, and later founded the airline in 2003.

Hooters casino operators have rebranded almost every part of the hotel, using subtle boundary gags about key female forms that could appeal to married men between the ages of 25 and 54.

From non-disturbing signs that read "No knocking," to nipper pool bars (Dros says it's named after an insect that swarms in popular Bahamas bars), the brand continues to press excitement with plausible denials. The Hooters Girl dealer's bobblehead doll has a 'Black Jack 101' cheat sheet underneath its trademark orange shorts.

More than 200 Hooters Girls, who work mostly at other casinos, will work at the resort in tight tank tops and short shorts, while the chain's calendar models will appear monthly to boost sales. Their images will rotate monthly to decorate gambling tables and chips.

Thursday's "Orange Carpet" opening was set to include the appearance of NFL great Dan Marino, TV star Brooke Burke, and 40 Hooters Calendar Girls.

Printed ads, including photos of Hooters Girl posing behind a blackjack table, were considered too outrageous for the weekly news magazine Time. Time declined to run the ads, arguing that the name "Hooters" would offend readers, but Langlois added that the spot will appear in USA Today this week.

Observers said the company may be opening a niche with low-cost products in more expensive strip areas.

"You know their market. It's relatively young in blue," said Hal Rossman, a Las Vegas history professor who wrote "Neon Metropolis: How did Las Vegas begin the 21st century?"

"There's really nothing else that satisfies that market," he said.

Michael Green, a history professor at Southern Nevada Community College, agreed.

"I suspect they're not going to attract big high rollers, but I suspect they're going to attract people who say they can stay there and take a quick walk to the giant resort," Green said.  동행복권파워볼

The reorganization was paid for with $125 million in debt. Langlois said it expects to more than triple San Remo's annual revenue to about $100 million and have an operating profit of $22 million to $24 million.

He said the place would do well if the casino held curious visitors on the strip for a day or two.

"We think it's the best place you could have asked for."