Macau was the place where Las Vegas Sands was going to step out from the shadows of its rivals. Its bold strategy — to grab the biggest share of the Chinese enclave’s gaming market with an Asian version of the Las Vegas Strip — swamped the company with debt that has taken it to the brink of bankruptcy. Now, image problems are cropping up in Macau, where the company’s chief executive, Sheldon Adelson, had been hailed as a visionary.

The Chinese government will forbid its citizens from visiting casinos while encouraging them to travel to Taiwan for pleasure, a top Chinese tourism official said yesterday in the island county of Kinmen. "It is Taiwan's own business to legalize gaming. The mainland's law makes it very clear that gambling is not permitted," said Shao Qiwei, director of China's National Tourism Administration.