World's tallest ferris wheel opened in Vegas

High Roller, commissioned by Caesars Entertainment, at 550 feet, the highest point on the highest observation wheel in the world, got its official operating permit from Clark County last week and opened to the public yesterday.

With 28 cabins that can fit up to 40 people each, the High Roller is the focal point of The LINQ, which has been opening in phases since Dec. 27. The LINQ, which will eventually have 30 venues, is located in the center of the Strip between The Quad Resort and Casino and Flamingo Las Vegas and directly across from Caesars Palace.

The highly anticipated High Roller has dramatically changed the Vegas Skyline, competing with the likes of Paris Hotel and Casino's Eiffel Tower replica and the Stratosphere observation deck.

It's already beat its competitors around the world. At about 51 stories high, it's taller than the Singapore Flyer, the Star of Nanchang in China, and the London Eye, which until this week made up the triumvirate of tallest observation wheels. The High Roller can fit up to 1,120 people.

"It's really an art piece on the Las Vegas skyline, from the dynamic lighting sequences to the overall engineering and architecture that it adds to the skyline," says Jon Gray, vice president and general manager of The LINQ, the open-air dining, retail and entertainment district where the High Roller is located. "It's a new icon that everyone, locals and tourists alike, have embraced. We've really enhanced the Las Vegas skyline."

"It required a big anchor to really make that work," says Greg Miller, executive vice president of domestic development for Caesars Entertainment. "If you think of the history of Las Vegas, it's been hard to get people too far off the Strip. We needed something big, something audacious, almost, to compel people to come that far off the Strip."

It's not the first time someone in Vegas has tried to build an observation wheel. The partially constructed Skyvue is still visible on the south end of the Strip, far short of the 500 feet it was supposed to reach.

Caesars Entertainment, which spent US $550 million on the High Roller and The LINQ.