Inside Asian Gaming

October 2012 | INSIDE ASIAN GAMING 45 Briefs stories about the casino in 2007, the design being to sabotage its value on behalf of Mr Michaels, whom he befriended while he headed the casino and Mr Michaels was a high roller there. Mr Michaels allegedly hatched the scheme on behalf of members of Macau’s powerful Ho family, whom he claimed to represent. “If it did come to light in the public arena, then the share price might fall, and then [Melco Crown Entertainment] would be in a position to acquire the business at a lower price,”Mr Lyttleton said. Mr Lyttleton testified that Mr Michaels told him he worked as a corporate raider for Melco, which operates casinos in Macau and is controlled by Lawrence Ho. Mr Michaels allegedly told Mr Lyttleton that Melco was interested in taking over SkyCity’s Auckland casino and the Christchurch casino, in which SkyCity holds a 50% stake. Mr Lyttleton told the court that Mr Michaels befriended him while he headed the casino and later convinced him to quit and hand over more than A$1 million to join him in business as part of Melco’s alleged plans. He was promised a million-dollar-plus salary. It was then that things took a sinister twist, according to Mr Lyttleton, who saidMrMichaels toldhimthat during theduediligence process he discovered that someone had put out a contract on Mr Lyttleton’s life. Mr Lyttleton told the court he believed the threat, saying there had been safety issues at the casino in the past. No Worries, Says SJM Exec This year’s decline in visitor arrivals to Macau gives the city more time to push ahead with new tourism offerings, says SJM Holdings Executive Director Angela Leong. “With the negative growth now, it gives us time to diversify with more tourism products on offer, which is good for society,” Ms Leong told English-language newspaper Macau Post . Ms Leong, the fifth of casino tycoon Stanley Ho’s consorts, added that high growth in tourism arrivals “is not beneficial” for the city. Tourist arrivals fell for the fourth month in a row in August, according to official data. In the first eight months of this year, visitor arrivals totaled 18.7 million, with year-on-year growth slowing to 1.1%. “I’m still optimistic for Macau,”Ms Leong said. Second Casino Planned at Fisherman’s Wharf Macau Legend Development has plans to build a second casino as part of a HK$5 billion (US$645 million) plan to refurbish and expand its Fisherman’s Wharf theme park. Sources cited by English-language newspaper Macau Business Daily said an agreement has been reached with the government for the casino, although it was not part of the original redevelopment plan. The casino would operate under SJM Holdings’ gaming concession as a third-party-promoted “satellite” venue. The park currently hosts Casino Babylon, also an SJM satellite. Macau Legend also owns the five-star Macau Landmark hotel, which includes the SJM satellite Pharaoh’s Palace Casino. The first phase of the redevelopment calls for refurbishing the existing park and adding two hotels, a yacht club and a dinosaur museum, according to reports. The government grant detailing the redevelopment calls for an extra 23,500 square meters of space, enlarging the park to 133,000 square meters. The second casino is expected to open by 2016, according to Business Daily . Crown Eyes Gold Coast Australia’s Gold Coast could be the site of at least one new resort- scale casino. According to news reports, senior council members recently were entertained by officials of Crown Limited in Melbourne, home of Crown’s flagship casino, and several major international casino players have approached the government in recent weeks to discuss the opportunities. Crown Managing Director and CEO Rowen Craigie, who has a luxury apartment in Main Beach, is said to be keeping a close watch on developments along the popular stretch of Pacific coastline in Queensland and providing feedback to Crown’s board. Crown declined comment on its plans, according to news reports, but both Crown and rival Echo Entertainment have said that more destination casinos in Australia would expand the market rather than cannibalize it. “If Australia’s got three quality offerings for that China market that might prove to be more attractive than if there’s only two,” Mr Craigie has said. He was referring to Sydney’s Star casino, the prize in James Packer’s ongoing pursuit of publicly traded Echo, owner of the Star and three casinos in Queensland. Crown also is moving forward with plans to develop a second casino in Sydney, a market in which Star holds a government monopoly. Crown also operates a casino in Perth in Western Australia. “Echo has more leverage in our view as Sydney outranks Melbourne as a preferred destination, and Brisbane and the Gold Coast outrank Perth,” stated a recent report from Citi. Angela Leong Rowen Craigie