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A bunny thing happened on the way to the casino
Playboy launches online gambling site...

By Will Sturgeon

Published: Tuesday 28 August 2001

Playboy Enterprises and gambling giant Ladbrokes have signed a deal to launch an online casino - complete with virtual bunny girls.

The site, casino.playboy.com will offer punters the opportunity to play more than 50 online games including blackjack, craps, poker and roulette.

The two companies originally discussed launching an actual bricks-and-mortar casino in London, returning to the heyday of the bunny girl croupier, but this fell through after Ladbrokes' parent, the Hilton Group, sold its casino arm to bingo giant Gala.

However, following the companies' successful partnership in launching PlayboySportsBook.com, an online sports betting site, they decided to make their planned casino a virtual vice den supervised by interactive hostesses.

Ladbrokes will provide the technology, management and customer support for the project while Playboy will use its world famous branding and handle all marketing.