MAXIM, the British-owned lads’ magazine famous for featuring scantily clad starlets, is to lend its name to a $1.2 billion (£640 million) Las Vegas hotel and casino under a licensing deal with an American property developer.

In the latest brand extension to hit the hotel industry, Dennis Publishing has signed a deal with Concord Wilshire Partners, a real estate firm with about $7 billion (£3.7 billion) of projects under development, to build the Maxim Hotel & Casino.

The venue, which is due to open on the Las Vegas Strip in 2010, will have 2,300 rooms and a 60,000 sq ft casino, together with a luxury spa, conference facilities, restaurants overseen by celebrity chefs and a string of luxury shops.

It will also have a Maxim Lounge, a fledgling chain of nightclubs that the magazine is developing in tandem with Rande Gerber, the impressario behind the Stone Rose at the Time Warner Centre in New York and the husband of Cindy Crawford, the model.

Maxim has a paid-for circulation of more than 2.5 million readers, whom its American partner is hoping will provide a steady stream of business to the project when it opens its doors.

Dennis, which not will not be investing any money in the project, will receive an upfront fee of about $5 million from Concord Wilshire and an annual fee of at least the same amount. It will also pocket a percentage of all food and drink spend and shop rental.

Barry Pincus, director of brand development for Dennis Publishing, said that Maxim would be actively involved in all aspects of the development of the hotel and casino, from choosing the architects and deciding the overall look and feel of the property “to deciding how big the pools should be”.

He said that although the feel would be “sexy and flirtatious”, it would also be “extremely tasteful”, reflecting the popularity of the magazine with female readers as well as male readers.

“We get three million women readers every month, so what we do will appeal to both men and women,” Mr Pincus said.

In addition to licensing fees, the magazine will also benefit from being able to use the venue as a showcase for advertising and sponsorship events, which Mr Pincus said would involve lots of celebrity visitors.

Maxim will be hoping that its foray into hotels is more successful than some of its other brand extensions. A hair care venture was terminated recently, while a deal with an American film company to make movies under the Maxim Presents banner foundered amid “creative differences”. A range of furniture and a line of duvets have proved more successful.

In Las Vegas, the Maxim Hotel & Casino will find itself competing with some of the biggest names in gaming, including MGM and Caesars Palace as well as another famous brand extension, the Hard Rock Hotel & Casino.

MAXIMUM IMPACT

Dennis Publishing’s Maxim is not alone in extending its brand into hotels

McDonald’s, the burger giant, opened two Golden Arch Hotels in Switzerland in 2001

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