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June 8, 2011 Balita


Red Carpet Reception for ‘It’s Vegas! With Lani Misalucha’


LAS VEGAS – V Asian TV Group, Inc. and V Asian TV Productions, producers of the soon-to-be-aired


“It’s Vegas! With Lani Misalucha” is launching the show in style with a red carpet launch-and-reception on Friday, June 10 at the Eve Night Club inside Crystal Shopping Center, Aria Hotel at City Center. The red carpet reception at rolls at 6:00 p.m. sharp, followed by special performances from 7:00-8:30 p.m. guests are requested to ‘dress to impress,’ cocktail dresses for ladies and coat-and-tie for men, as the event will be televised and included in the show which will premiere at the end of May 2011. There is also a photo op for guests with the Las Vegas Show Girls at the red carpet reception area between 6:00-7:00 p.m. This was announced by Wilfredo ‘Jing’ Espiritu, president and CEO of V Asian Group, Inc. Espiritu says that guests must RSVP in order to be admitted to the event by calling (702) 858-8771. Guests are limited to 500 attendees only. (Zen S. Laluna) ■


THE New Diva of Las Vegas, Ms. Lani Misalucha, headlined Fiesta Filipino 2011. PHOTO: ZEN S. LALUNA


MGM China Holdings shares end higher on HK


by JOYCE WOO


HONG KONG, June 3, 2011 (AFP) – Macau casino giant MGM China Holdings got off to a strong start on its Hong Kong trading debut Friday, in a $1.5 billion flotation that showed strong investor appetite for the gaming hub. MGM’s shares touched HK$16.20 ($2.08) in early trad- ing, about 5.6 percent above their HK$15.34 sale price before set- tling back to close at HK$15.62 – as the broader Hang Seng Index lost 1.31 percent.


The firm, a tie-up between


Las Vegas-based MGM Resorts International and Pansy Ho, the daughter of Macau gambling tycoon Stanley Ho, said it sold 760 million shares as operators bet big on the world’s largest gambling centre.


“I’m very happy with the opening stock price – it is a very good indication of its future performance,” Ho told reporters at the firm’s listing ceremony in Hong Kong.


Macau, a former Portuguese


colony, is a key profit source for several U.S. casino firms operat- ing in the city, the only place in China that allows casino gam- bling.


Cornerstone investors are given the option to buy vast por- tions of stock in an IPO if they agree to hold the shares for a certain length of time.


Paulson made billions of dol- lars after being one of the few investors to predict the collapse of the U.S. sub-prime mortgage market in 2007 that led to the global financial crisis.


MGM will have a 51 percent stake – and management control – in the listed joint venture. “This IPO continues to il- lustrate the growing connection between Las Vegas headquartered companies and Asia,” U.S.-based analyst Jonathan Galaviz told AFP.


Stanley Ho controlled the


city’s gaming sector for about four decades until 2002 when Macau broke his monopoly and granted licenses to rivals includ- ing U.S. casino heavyweights Las Vegas Sands and Wynn Resorts. Both firms listed their Macau own units on Hong Kong’s bourse in late 2009.


The territory raked in a whopping $23.5 billion in gaming revenue last year, outpacing the Las Vegas Strip at least four-fold, with the city’s April revenue fig- ures showing a nearly 45 percent year-on-year increase. MGM’s share sale lured sev- eral high-profile cornerstone investors, including U.S. hedge fund giant John Paulson and gam- ing billionaire Kirk Kerkorian.


In a report last year, New Jer- sey gaming regulators told MGM Resorts to cut its business ties with Pansy Ho – after deeming her “unsuitable” because of her father’s alleged organized crime links – or risk losing its state gam- ing license. Stanley Ho has long denied allegations he allowed Macau’s notorious triads to oper- ate in his casinos.


In response MGM said it would instead leave New Jersey by selling a 50 percent stake in an Atlantic City casino-resort so it could keep its casino-hotel in Macau.■


THE 2011 NaFFAA Popilarity Contest Winners (from left) Victoria Lamb- Miss Filipina-LV 1st runner up; Belinda Fello, Miss Filipina-LV 2011, Pilar Deriquito-Pierce - Mrs. Filipina-LV 2011, Barbara Matias- Mrs. Filipina-LV1st runner up, Marina Crockett- Mrs. Filipina-LV 2nd runner up, and Michael Payne-Mr. Filipino-Las Vegas. The contest


garnered more than $25,000 for NaFFAA-NV coffers earmarked for the construction of a Filipino-American Center. PHOTO: ZEN S. LALUNA


By STEVE FRIESS


LAS VEGAS, June 3, 2011 (AFP) – Cirque du Soleil founder Guy Laliberte and the World Series of Poker announced plans Thursday for a special 2012 tournament that would require a record $1 million entry fee. Eleven percent of the fee for the contest, which he described as a “very interesting game of mil- lionaires,” would be donated to Laliberte’s anti-poverty nonprofit foundation One Drop.


The always-theatrical Lalib- erte dumped $1 million in money bricks on a felt table and declared


Cirque chief gambles on ‘millionaires’ poker game’ it his buy-in for the event titled The Big One For One Drop, scheduled for July 1, 2012 in the same room at the Rio in Las Vegas.


He said he has buy-in commit- ments from 14 others, including well-known pros like Johnny Chan and Daniel Negreanu, as well as billionaire Phil Ruffin, who owns the Treasure Island casino in Las Vegas. Laliberte and the WSOP have capped the number of entrants at 48, and if they garner that many players, the top prize could be nearly $20 million.


FOR lending her name, talent and time to the 3rd Annual Filipino fi esta, Ms. Lani Misalucha received a Recognition Award from NaFFAA (from left) Jing Espiritu, past NaFFAA state chair, Amie Blemonte, and Beth Ilagan, NaFFAA state chair and vice-chair, respectively. (PHOTO: ZEN S. LALUNA)


But the tournament only needs 29 players to boast a top prize of more than $12 million, which would be the biggest champion sum in tournament poker history. Up to now, the biggest payout ever was $12 million won by Jamie Gold of California as the champion of the WSOP’s 2006 Main Event. Of each $1 million entry fee, $888,888 will become prize money while $111,111 will go to One Drop, a Montreal-based non-governmental organization that aims to help provide potable water in impoverished areas of the world.■


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