Vegas mover takes punt on Macau
THE high-stakes, never-sleeps gambling world of Las Vegas is moving to Asia and making a multi-billion dollar bet of its own.
Las Vegas Sands, one of the prime movers in the gaudy Nevada desert centre, is putting the finishing touches to plans for a major expansion in the former Portuguese colony of Macau.
The tiny enclave on the south-eastern coast of China, a 90-minute boat trip from Hong Kong, is the only place in the world's most populous country where one can gamble legally.
For more than four decades, casino gaming there was run by a monopoly controlled by local magnate Stanley Ho. But two years after Macau reverted to Chinese rule in 1999 the authorities decided to bring in foreign competition.
They handed Ho one new licence, but also gave permission for Las Vegas Sands and its Nasdaq-listed US rival Wynn Sands to run gaming tables and card games. 'The opportunity of the region is nothing short of fantastic,' William Weidner, president of Las Vegas Sands, said earlier this month.
'Within a two-hour flight of Macau, over a billion people reside. Within a five-hour flight, three-fifths of the world reside.'
In Las Vegas, Sands owns the Venetian Casino Resort, a $1.5 billion (£924 million) extravaganza with a themed shopping centre that boasts a replica of Venice's Grand Canal and St Mark's Square.
Weidner wants to create a replica effort in Macau, with 1500 hotel rooms, a convention centre, restaurants, a casino and his trademark singing gondoliers.
If all goes to plan, however, that glitzy property will merely be one of up to 20 similar projects funded by fellow corporations desperate to jump on the bandwagon.
Built on reclaimed land, the entire development, described in promotional material as 'the largest destination resort in the Asia-Pacific', could result in 60,000 new rooms, and up to $10 billion in investment.
