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The
Straits Times, 14 Nov 04
Casino
raiders
Las Vegas has
raised the stakes in the anything-goes gambling den that is Macau
with a luxurious casino
Glittery Las Vegas gambling has arrived in seedy Macau, promising
new charms for China's inveterate players, and this former Portuguese
colony may never be the same. The first Las Vegas invasion, the Sands,
has risen bronze-tinted and modernistic on the edge of Macau's little
harbour, where fast ferries from Hong Kong deliver thousands of gamblers
every day. With 300 tables and 500 slot machines, the sleek new entry
scooped up almost US$36 million (S$59 million) in the first 10 weeks
after opening in May.
Venetian Macau, the Las Vegas Sands subsidiary that built it, has
started construction on a second high-end casino near Macau International
Airport. Wynn Resorts, another Las Vegas firm, has launched two similarly
grandiose projects, one of which includes a golf course along with
its casino.
The competition from Las Vegas has pushed the traditional Macau gambling
empire, created by the legendary Stanley Ho, to refurbish frayed facilities
and erect new ones. At the same time, Galaxy, a Hong Kong-owned firm
that initially partnered with Venetian and then split off, has broken
ground on a casino described by the government's Tourism Office as
'a large-scale resort and entertainment centre'. It has also announced
plans for a new 600-room establishment in the city centre.
The new construction is only part of the picture. The deepest changes
may be in the personality of this territory, which has a long tradition
of laissez faire, allowing prostitutes, loan sharks and gangsters
to prosper alongside the croupiers.
But the Las Vegas gaming industry has made it clear it intends to
market gambling in Macau as wholesome entertainment. 'Macau can no
longer be just a gambling den,' said an industry source.
Ho's Macau Gaming Company, which grew up in Macau's smoky tradition
and helped it grow, has also begun seeking a broader clientele. Macau
has undergone several changes since it reverted to Chinese control
in 1999, including the granting of new licences into a formerly closed
gambling market.
But none has been as far-reaching as this challenge to the anything-goes
credo that has made Macau notorious. Traditionally, gamblers of all
kinds find a warm welcome. Macau's homegrown casinos cater with indiscriminate
zeal to Hong Kong high rollers who fly in by helicopter to bet millions
in VIP rooms and to crowds of bused-in Chinese who fritter away their
salaries chip by chip a few storeys below.
The do-as-you-like jumble has proved an irresistible draw for people
from mainland China, where casinos are illegal. By the millions -
11.8 million last year - they have poured into Macau since the turnover
to China, aided by increasingly lax border controls. The question
for the Macau gambling industry is whether the new concepts and the
new level of luxury being introduced by Las Vegas gambling firms will
appeal to Chinese visitors. Executives have predicted they can also
draw visitors from elsewhere in Asia with opulence, conventions and
golfing. But China, with its 1.3 billion inhabitants, has remained
the main target. Ho, the 84-year-old gambling patriarch, has not spoken
much in public of the end to his long-held monopoly.
But Hong Kong's South China Morning Post reported that at a Macau
Gaming function in September, he vowed: 'We are Chinese and we will
not be disgraced. We will not lose to the intruders.' |
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