In early 2006 Sampoerna purchased the former London Clubs International flagship for us$ 224.7 million, worth around us$ 201 million at the time. At current exchange rates, the Adelson deal is worth only us$ 147 million.
In December Sampoerna was reportedly considering an offer of us$ 185.6 million from Mike Ashley, U.K. owner of a sports team and an online betting company. However, Adelson claimed he had a prior, binding verbal agreement with Sampoerna and threatened legal action.
In addition to being the scene of high-limit gambling, mostly from oil-rich Arabs, in the 1970s, Les Ambassadeurs was the first location where Sean Connery was James Bond, in the movies of the same name. It also featured prominently in a scene from the Beatles first movie, A Hard Day's Night.