Miss Bermuda jets out to Las Vegas today to be guest of honour at a top casino's $600,000 grand opening ceremony.

Joanne Darrell and her entourage will arrive in Laughlin, Nevada, later this afternoon, in time for Friday's glitzy opening of the River Palms resort casino.

They will stay at the 1,000-room hotel and mingle with top Las Vegas stars, just as the complex unveils its $20 million Bermuda-theme design.

The resort, owned by billionaire San Diego racehorse tycoon Allen Paulson, began remodelling itself on Bermuda earlier this year.

Marketing manager John Strickland said more than 800 guests had been invited to the opening.

But he said the event would be attended by "thousands and thousands''.

Mr. Strickland added: "Miss Bermuda will be walking the property and meeting and greeting our guests and all that sort of thing.

"We have hundreds of invited guests but we expect our attendance to run into the thousands and thousands.

"We have got a fireworks display, a lights-on ceremony and a ribbon-cutting.

"Then the doors will open and we will have a huge casino balloon-drop, where 2,000 balloons will fall out of the sky, carrying prizes and cash and all sorts.

"The marketing of this one evening alone has cost us in the region of $600,000.'' Miss Bermuda and her entourage, including manager Zeth Landy, will stay at the hotel.

The Royal Gazette revealed earlier this month that River Palms President Bob Kelley had quit at a moment's notice.

The Bermuda redesign had also fallen two weeks behind schedule. But casino bosses won a race against time to be open for the grand ceremony.

The front of the giant building is now sporting pastel blues and peaches, with white roofs as a final touch.

Mr. Strickland said: "We have a lot of well-known people from Las Vegas coming for the opening but they may not be people with worldwide fame.

"We've had a couple of problems recently because the interior redesign has fallen behind schedule.

"Mr. Kelley left quite abruptly after meeting with Mr. Paulson. He had really come out of retirement to see the project through and it all became a little bit much for him, I think.

"Now we're looking for a new President and I think a couple of people are lined up.

"But we're pressing full steam ahead with the Bermuda launch. And the outside has been finished and looks really nice now.

"It used to look like some kind of missile launcher but now we have a fabulous property.'' He said alcove entrances to the tower block now had angled white roofs.

And the pastel colours outside are also being used inside, with Bermuda plant displays reflecting pink sand beaches and clear blue ocean.

The casino's 1,054 staff are being decked out in Bermuda shorts and jackets and the hotel's restaurants will serve Bermuda foods.

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