Hong Kong (AP) -- The MGM Grand Macau opens its doors Tuesday, becoming the latest Las Vegas-backed casino to crowd into the tiny Chinese gambling enclave hoping to lure China's growing middle class. The USD 1.25 billion MGM Grand is a joint venture between Las Vegas casino operator MGM Mirage and Pansy Ho, the daughter of Macau's former casino kingpin, Stanley Ho.
Beijing - Mainland China may not yet have a Broadway, but it has a Las Vegas: the former Portuguese colony of Macau. A special administrative region at the mouth of the Pearl River, just an hour by ferry from Hong Kong, Macau soon could surpass the American gambling oasis as the model for future entertainment destinations.
Following the phenomenal success of EiG 2007 in Barcelona, the trade event is now underway with the planning the 6th Annual Asian i-Gaming Congress & Expo, to be held February 26-29, 2008 at the Venetian Hotel and Resort in Macau. Formerly known as Pacific Congress on i-Gaming (PCiG), this is the longest-running and only conference in Asia to focus solely on i-gaming in Asia Pacific...
Casino developer MGM Mirage (MGM) said it would open its debut property in the Chinese gambling destination of Macau on December 18. The USD 1.25 billion project is a joint venture with Pansy Ho, daughter of Hong Kong billionaire Stanley Ho, a gambling industry veteran. The resort will feature 600 rooms, suites and villas; 375 table games; 900 slot machines; and 16 high-end private gambling salons.
Costs on James Packer's City of Dreams casino project continue to rise, with the estimate outlay now at USD 2.1 billion (AUD 2.26 billion) compared with USD 1.85 billion in June and USD 1.5 billion last December. The new costs for the casino/hotel project, now under construction, are given in a 190-page filing to the US Securities and Exchange Commission by the US-listed Melco PBL Entertainment, which is seeking to raise USD 563.8 million in new shares.
Die chinesische Sonderverwaltungszone Macau ist bekannt als das Monte Carlo des Ostens, denn die Insel ist der einzige Ort in der Volksrepublik China, an dem Glücksspiel erlaubt ist. Doch während das Geschäft mit dem Glückspiel boomt und die Umsätze der Casinos in den vergangenen fünf Jahren sprunghaft angestiegen sind, blieb Macau vom weltweiten Pokerboom völlig unberührt.
British private equity fund Permira will buy 20 percent of casino operator Galaxy Entertainment Group Ltd for USD 838 million, the Hong Kong firm said on Thursday, getting in on a Macau gambling boom. Permira will buy 452 million shares from Galaxy shareholder K.Wah International Holdings Ltd for USD 490 million, and acquire another 323 million new shares from Galaxy for USD 348 million, Galaxy said in a statement on Thursday.
New York (AP) -- Shares of gaming companies with interests in Macau slipped Wednesday, after a Morgan Stanley analyst said preliminary Macau gaming revenue growth in September is significantly below her estimate. Analyst Celeste Mellet Brown said early Macau figures show September gaming revenue growth of 55 percent year over year, which is well below her forecast for more than 75 percent growth. The data is also likely to be below general expectations across Wall Street, she added.
Las Vegas Sands’ Venetian Macau opened recently with GPI high security chips on all its 870 tables. Like most of Macau’s casinos, the Venetian chose GPI as its preferred supplier to deliver close to two million chips from the B&G brand. These chips feature exclusive security features such as individual high security holograms, ultraviolet pigments, LaserLock infrared pigments and see-through inserts.
Hong Kong (AP) -- Hong Kong casino company Galaxy Entertainment Group said Tuesday it has received government approval to expand its planned development on Macau's Cotai strip, pitting it against the newly opened Venetian. Galaxy currently runs five casinos in China's gambling enclave in Macau, including StarWorld, which opened last October. It is also building GalaxyWorld Resort on Cotai, a reclaimed strip linking two outlying islands that Las Vegas mogul Sheldon Adelson hopes to transform into a massive resort that rivals the Nevada gambling mecca.
Hong Kong will not build casinos to compete with its booming neighbor Macau, which recently surpassed Las Vegas in gaming revenue, an official said. The remarks came as Singapore is also opening up to casinos. The city-state dropped a ban on casino gambling in 2005. Speaking to reporters after a banquet held by the hotel industry late Friday, Hong Kong Secretary for Commerce and Economic Development Frederick Ma acknowledged the fast casino growth in Macau posed a challenge to Hong Kong.
Las Vegas (AP) -- Casino operator Harrah's Entertainment Inc. said Wednesday that one of its subsidiaries acquired a golf course in Macau for undisclosed terms, marking its first entry into the lucrative gambling market but without the rights to build a casino. Harrah's, which is being taken private in a USD 17.1 billion transaction, has struggled to find a foothold in Asia while its Las Vegas-based competitors have rushed into the market with massive investments.
