Inside Asian Gaming

33 32 Chinese Gambling Crackdown Mainland Chinese police have arrested nearly 1.2 million illegal gamblers in a 10-month crackdown aimed at stopping state officials from squandering public funds in casinos in Macau, North Korea and Vietnam. The campaign seized 2.3 billion renminbi (US$285 million) in 163,000 cases. Nearly 9,000 party members were punished,among themCai Haowen,a transport manager in Yanbian, in north-eastern Jilin province, who was jailed for 17 years for embezzling and gambling away 3.2 million renminbi. 30 agencies linked to casinos and 19 banks were also shut. Harrah’s Taps AEG for Sing Bid Harrah’s Entertainment Inc and Singapore property developer Keppel Land Ltd have teamed up with US entertainment promoter AEG for their bid to operate Singapore’s first casino resort. AEG, a wholly owned subsidiary of Los Angeles-based Anschutz Entertainment Group Inc., brought in singers such as Celine Dion and Elton John to perform at Caesar’s Palace, one of the Las Vegas casinos in Harrah’s stable. This was the second alliance unveiled by Harrah’s and KepLand in December. The group also said it was joining forces with Asian conventions organiser Suntec Singapore International Convention and Exhibition Centre to develop convention venues in the resort complex. CityDev Leaves LVS’ Singapore Bid City Developments Ltd, Southeast Asia’s second-largest property group, has withdrawn froma joint bidwith LasVegas Sands Corp.(LVS) tobuild Singapore’s first casino resort. CityDev said it chose to pull after further requirements related to the bid were announced after it announced on December 15 that it would take a 15% equity stake in the project. CityDev said in a statement released on the Singapore Stock Exchange that it would continue to provide advice to non-gaming aspects of Sands’ proposal, especially in areas relating to design, development and construction planning. LVS – the world’s biggest casino operator by market capitalization – is one of four bidders vying to build Singapore’s first casino resort, to be located on the city-state’s downtown Marina Bayfront.. Some analysts have said that the bidders’chances of clinching the project, to be decided by mid-year, would be stronger if submitted with a Singapore-based partner. LVS’two US rivals in the Singapore race, MGM Mirage and Harrah’s Entertainment Inc, have teamed up with local developers for their bids. Chefs In Place of Guggenheim Las Vegas Sands (LVS) said the company’s earlier pledge to feature a Guggenheim museum in its proposed Singapore integrated casino resort is on hold. “We’re still in talks,but basically the Guggenheim’s proposed building design exceeds the Marina Bay height requirements,” said LVS President and COOWilliamWeidner. The height restriction at the bayfront promontory has been set at 265m. Peermont Global had dropped out of the IR bid earlier citing a failure to get permission to build a 475m-spire. LVS has now shifted strategy, announcing a partnership with six world-famous chefs to develop six destination restaurants as a key ingredient of their IR concept. LVS is still sourcing for the missing cultural component - a requirement under the Request For Proposals (RFP) – which can also take the form of a cultural centre, an art gallery, contemporary art centre or planetarium. LVS believes its aces in the bidding are its proposed one million square foot conference and exhibition area, its partnership with Clear Channel Entertainment, a budget of around US$2.5billion, and presence in Macau to act as a conduit for Chinese tourists into Singapore. MGM Gets Grander in Macau MGM Mirage announced expansion plans for its Macau casino resort and said it has secured US$700 million in financing for the project. MGM Mirage said MGM Grand Macau - which it expects to cost about $1.06 billion and is scheduled to open in 2007 - will now have a larger casino and a new entertainment venue and hotel atrium. It said that a group of eight financial institutions has committed to financing the project, a joint venture between the casino operator and Stanley Ho’s daughter, Pansy.The MGM Grand Macau will operate on a gambling sub-concession from Stanley Ho’s SJM. Jackie Chan Hosts Casino Opening Macau’s 18th casino, the Emperor Palace Casino opened on January 5. About 20,000 people visited the casino on its first day of business, where an opening celebration was held with action star Jackie Chan as the host,and other visiting celebrities including Michael Hui and Louis Koo. The hotel-casino,built by Emperor Entertainment Hotel Limited, contains over 300 slot machines on three levels of gaming space, which also feature all the classic Macau table games.The casino also has a uniquely glittery entrance: 78 gold bars have been placed underneath its lobby floor. Fisherman’s First Macau opened its first theme park, the Fisherman’s Wharf, to usher in the New Year. Located in Macau’s outer harbour area, the theme park features a fancy spewing artificial volcano, a Chinese fort, a faux Coliseum, and replicas of landmarks from Babylon,Miami,Lisbon,Amsterdam and other world tourist attractions. The project cost US$325 million and hopes to attract 25 million visitors a year. The coming second phase of the park will include a large-scale casino and hotel. LVS Macau Budget Balloons According to a filing by Las Vegas Sands Corp. (LVS) with US securities regulators, the budget for its Venetian Macau casino resort has now reached US$2.3 billion, from the previous announced US$2 billion. The budget had originally been set at a mere US$500 million. The most recent plans for the resort, set to open in the third quarter of 2007, indicate 3,000 hotel rooms, a one million square foot mall, 1.8 million square feet of meeting space and a casino with 700 tables and 5,300 slot machines. According to a report in Hong Kong daily The Standard, “The Venetian’s budget excludes land costs, which will likely exceed US$100 million, based on estimates made by Galaxy Entertainment Group for a similarly sized resort development next door.” LVS also said in its filing that it expects to spend US$590 million on a resort to be built next to the Venetian and likely managed by Four Seasons Hotels and Resorts. Meanwhile,LVS officials have said the company plans to invest at least US$1.5 billion more in other casino resorts to be set up around the Venetian and US$1 billion in a non-gaming resort complex on Hengqin Island,which sits adjacent to the Cotai Strip on which the Venetian Macau is located. Macau Fund-Raising Binge Publishing and Broadcasting Ltd (PBL) is seeking to raise more than US$1 billion to fund the construction of its two casino projects in Macau. Crown Macau, a joint venture between PBL and Melco International Development, is seeking about US$240 million for the US$260 million Crown Macau casino and six-star hotel now under construction. PBL is also set to raise more than US$800 million for the US$1.5 billion City of Dreams casino, hotel and apartment project, another JV with Melco, on Macau’s Cotai Strip. PBL owns 40% of the Macau joint ventures, with Melco owning the rest. The two fundraisings follow the successful US$600 million bond raising by rival Macau casino operator, Galaxy. Galaxy upped its fundraising from an initial US$500 million after it was flooded with applications for the high-yield bonds. Las Vegas Sands is seeking US$2.5 billion, MGM Mirage has secured US$700 million and Wynn Resorts has signed US$764 million worth of loans, all for Macau projects. Hordes Descend on Macau Visitor arrivals to tiny Macau,which has a mere 480,000 residents, jumped 12% year-on-year in 2005 to 18.7 million.Some 56% of visitors came fromMainland China on the back of eased travel restrictions on Mainlanders wishing to visit the two Special Administrative Regions, Hong Kong and Macau. The record arrival figures conceal a worrying decline in the length of stay by tourists, however, from 1.2 to 1.1 days per visit. LVS Strikes Far East Deal Las Vegas Sands Corp announced in December that it had reached a deal with the Far East Consortium International Ltd. on all commercial terms necessary for Far East to build a multi-hotel complex on the Cotai Strip in Macau. The complex will include an Intercontinental Hotel, Holiday Inn and Far East’s hotel brands Cosmopolitan and Dorsett. Under the terms of the deal, Far East Consortium will develop the complex and manage the five hotels on the property. Las Vegas Sands will own and operate the casinos and showrooms within the complex. The deal is the second for Las Vegas Sands in Macau. On November 1, the company said Shangri-La Hotels and Resorts will operate the Shangri-La Hotel Macau and the Traders Hotel Macau in a Las Vegas Sands-owned building across from The Venetian Macau.