Galaxy Entertainment Group Ltd., a Macau casino operator controlled by billionaire Lui Che-woo, said it will ask two international hotel operators to manage parts of its new hotel-casino project in the city.

„The arrangement will increase the number of customer channels for the new hotel,“ Galaxy Vice Chairman Francis Lui told reporters after a shareholders meeting in Hong Kong today.

Galaxy, which plans to open its HKD 8.7 billion (USD 1.1 billion) hotel-casino in Macau’s Cotai Strip by the end of 2008, is joining Las Vegas Sands Corp. and Wynn Resorts Ltd. in boosting investment to tap rising demand for gambling in the city, the only place in China where casinos are legal.

The company will announce the management contracts in two to three months, Lui said, without naming any of the operators that Galaxy is in talks with. Galaxy will run the project’s Tower One while the outside operators will manage Tower Two, he said.

Galaxy posted a loss of HKD 1.53 billion last year, compared with a profit of HKD 2.4 billion in 2005, after costs rose as the company opened four casinos. Hong Kong-based Galaxy started operating the StarWorld, its latest Macau casino, in October. (Bloomberg)