75
lyst with Las Vegas-based con- One official lost 100 Wynn sells shares to raise money
sultancy Globalysis, said any million yuan in one day in
For the second time in five months casino developer Wynn is to
disruption to economic growth 2007, while another had to make a share offer to raise cash. The company will issue up to
will be temporary with Macau’s be carried out of a Macau
9.6 million new shares, at US$19 each, in a bid to raise US$175
performance short-term ex- casino as he was too weak
million. in November last year, Wynn raised US$348 million in an
offering priced at US$43.50 per share which was over subscribed
pected to fluctuate along with to walk after six days and
and had to be extended. The company has only one project under
the Asian economy. nights of constant gam-
development in Macau, the US$700 million Encore, a 400-room
While gaming revenues bling. hotel tower next to its existing 600-room Wynn Macau. it is set to
dipped sharply over the second “The central govern-
open early next year.
half of 2008, the city still raked ment is highly concerned
in a total of 13.5 billion US dol- that so much money is dis-
lars for the year, a 31 percent in- appearing in Macau,” zeng
crease year-on-year. Revenues said.
rose 46 percent in 2007. “It leads to bribes and
the theft of public funds, all
U
Retaild growth
A
of which greatly damages the
C
A
government’s reputation.”
M
A
Meanwhile, employment Glenn McCartney, a
O
B
I
S
held steady in the three months tourism academic at Macau L
D
to January and retail sales rose University and local busi-
N
A
R
34 percent in 2008. Gaming is nessman, said the city had
F
G
a central part of the economy. to change its business focus
O
Y
During a recent visit, there from VIPs to genuine mass-
T
E
S
were lengthy queues at the im- market entertainment, at-
R
U
O
migration counter and the city tracting visitors from across C
centre jewellery and watch Asia.
T
O
O
H
stores were humming with “I am very confident
P
shoppers. about Macau. The market is
Asia’s biggest poker room opens...
The tables at the Grand not anywhere near maturity
The Grand lisboa Casino has opened the biggest poker room
Lisboa, the flagship casino of level yet,” he said. in asia. With 22 tables, the new poker Stars Macau will host the
local tycoon Stanley Ho, were “But Macau is not Las
largest weekly tournaments in the region, the annual asia pacific
three deep with heavy-smoking Vegas. If I was sitting in
poker Tour and the premiere Macau poker Cup. Open for 24-hour
Chinese gamblers playing their the marketing department
cash games, it will offer free tournaments with no entrance fee for
new players. pokerStars is the world’s largest poker company.
favourites game of Baccarat. of a casino firm, I would
But it is in the hidden be asking what changes we
...and its poker tour returns
world of the VIP gaming have to make so we can at-
Macau is once again hosting asia´s first festival of poker. The
rooms where the city has suf- tract more people from the
asian poker Tour Macau Festival will run for 12 days, from
fered most. mainland.”
august 12–23, at the Galaxy StarWorld Hotel and Casino. This
VIP revenues have played US firm Las Vegas
year’s asian poker Tour Macau Festival will be bigger, with
a central role in the success of Sands in particular is hop-
12 days of non-stop poker action. The main event has been
extended and the televised final is scheduled for august 23. The
Macau’s economy with top ca- ing China will allow more
buy-in is set at US$4,300. apart from the main event, the asian
sinos tussling with each other visitors in. poker Tour Macau Festival will feature a range of side events
to attract high-rollers. The most aggressive
which are still to be announced. The success of the Tour at
But many of the heaviest foreign investor in the city,
Starworld has led organisers to lay out these ambitious plans that
gamblers were Chinese gov- it opened the world’s big-
represent another leap forward for poker in the region.
ernment officials and the heads gest casino, The Venetian,
Taiwan presses ahead with casinos
of state-owned companies, in 2008.
Taiwan has moved a step closer to allowing the building of casinos.
whose frittering away of public But worsening credit
referendum notwithstanding, the ruling Kuomintang approved
cash in Macau’s private rooms markets have stalled its ven- a law that authorises gaming in the territory. Taipei will issue
has become a national scandal. tures across the world, and
two gaming licences to companies that must also guarantee the
Not surprisingly, official last November it was forced
building of two hotels, with at least 1,000 rooms. a third licence
figures are not collated, but to sack 11,000 workers and
will not be on the cards until 10 years later amid social concerns
over the legalisation of gaming. reports say it will take one year to
zeng has combed through halt work on a huge complex
change the laws and determine the concession of these licences.
mainland media reports to es- of new hotels opposite the Taiwanese casinos are to be built on the outlying penghu islands
tablish a clearer picture. gargantuan Venetian.
and are expected to attract half a million visitors a year and create
Of the 99 cases he uncov- Four months later, the
50,000 new jobs, breathing new life into the tourism market. anti-
gaming activists have already staged public protests against what
ered, he said each official or quiet building site remains
they see as a threat to the local economy, public security and moral
businessman lost an average the most potent symbol both
order. analysts predict that the scale of Taiwan’s plans shouldn’t be
of 20 million yuan (2.9 million of Macau’s risks for inves- much of a threat to Macau’s gaming industry.
US) on the tables. tors, and its potential. aFp
april 2009
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