Mar
25
Pansy Ho gets official approval from Nevada regulators
Filed Under Macau, Macao, Cotai, Wall Street, MGM & Pansy Ho | Leave a Comment
Finally, Pansy is A OK.
This Businessweek aritcle discusses Nevada regulators official approval of MGM’s joint venture partner in Macau, Pansy Ho. Recall that MGM Grand Paradise (the name of the joint venture) is building a casino resort in Macau that is scheduled to open in 2007 and has also said that they plan to build a big casino resort in Cotai as well.
On Friday, Pansy Ho got the official stamp of approval from Nevada regulators that allows MGM and Pansy to move forward with their Macao casino joint venture. After two years of digging into Pansy and her sister Daisy’s background, Nevada Commissioner Arthur Marshall summed it up:
“I don’t see anything that would bring discredit to the state of Nevada”
Relieved that the approval may now allow her to be free of her father’s questionable past dealings, Pansy said: (**more below the ads**)
“(the ruling) allows Macau to have a clean slate and really start fresh”
This ruling comes about a month after the unofficial approval I wrote about last month.
The joint venture is still waiting on approval from New Jersey regulators since MGM owns 50% of the Borgata in Atlantic City. The New Jersey approval is not as big an issue as Nevada however, since MGM could always sell its joint venture interest in the Borgata back to Boyd Gaming. Since MGM is a Vegas centric company, failing to gain Nevada approval would have obviously been a huge problem and would have probably killed MGM’s Macau dreams.
To learn more about Pansy Ho, I stronlgy recommend reading this interview MacauBusiness did with Pansy.
Mar
23
Cool Cotai Strip® Video
Filed Under Macau, Macao, Cotai | Leave a Comment
Should just take a minute.
Video Clip if not running properly.
Mar
22
Warning: Here comes the competition
Filed Under Macau, Macao, Cotai, OTHER, Wynn, COTAI COMPETITION, Pagcor City, Taiwan | 2 Comments
First Singapore, now two more.
We knew the Asian competition wouldnt end with Singapore, right? Singapore was to have just two casinos and it was far enough away that it wouldnt be a threat. And sure, we knew Japan would probably legalize casinos sooner or later, but that wasn’t a big worry either since we couldnt really see the Chinese flocking to Japan to gamble at locals types of casinos. Now though, two more countries have made a move that could be a little concerning.
First, Taiwan has made some noise the last few days. It looks like Taiwan is seriously considering legalizing casino gambling, but is denying that it has already decided to issue three licenses. The Taiwanese probably need to be alittle cautious though with the whole China issue and everything, but this is Macau’s own backyard so a little alarm bell should probably go off.
Now this morning, News reports are everywhere that the Philipines could go ahead with its $20 billion dollar Pagcor City project in Manila Bay that would include casinos, hotels, shopping, dining, entertainment, etc. Wynn’s name is even being thrown around.
The government wants Pagcor City to be just like the Las Vegas Strip. That sounds just a little too familiar, doesnt it.
Mar
15
Macau’s looming disaster
Filed Under Macau, Macao, Cotai, OTHER | Leave a Comment
Two recent articles about the looming “disaster” in Macau – too many jobs
.
The People’s Daily Online reports that 7% of Macao’s workforce, or 20,000 people, are casino croupiers. In only two years, the number of casino croupiers will increase by 150% to 50,000!30,000 new, high paying jobs should be good news for a developing, mostly poor country, right? Wrong.
The problem, according to this Yahoo article is that Macau’s current workforce is only 250,000 people, so 30,000 new croupier jobs could put a real strain on the workforce. But it gets worse. The grand total of all new casino jobs created by the Macau and Cotai casinos could be in the neighborhood of a whopping 100,000.
Barry Brewster, a human resources manager stated:
“There is a structural nightmare awaiting Macau in three to five years unless something is done about the labour situation”
The situation is already pretty bad though, Brewster continued:
“Staff retention is a huge problem in Macau. Poaching of even low-level personnel, like construction workers, is common and at the level of croupier and dealers, it’s brutal.”
And its not just the casino employees getting lured away from their existing. With casino jobs paying up to 3x the amount of government jobs, schools and hospitals are also losing employees to the new casinos:
Macau economist: “There is an imbalance; people are leaving state jobs for the casinos because they pay more”
So how do you solve the problem? The easy solution would be to just relax the immigration policy, and let more foreigners work in Macau. But the Macanese people are against an influx of new workers into their country. Just wait til all the Cotai casinos and hotels open.
For more on this issue, see one of my old postings.
Mar
9
Melco PBL gives Crown Macau update
Filed Under Macau, Cotai, Melco PBL, Taipa, Crown Macau | Leave a Comment
Hate to see how much the “projected” USD $2 billion City of Dreams ends up costing.
Melco PBL announced three dates as part of the Crown Macau’s opening, along with a 14% hike in the casino’s price tag.
The hotel casino is targeted to finish construction and have its trial opening on April 27th, 2007, followed by the formal opening on May 9th and its grand opening on May 12th.
After giving potential investors a “projected” price tag of USD $512.6 million back in December, just three months later the company now says that the cost has escalated by USD $71 million. The company attributes the increase in cost to three areas: pre-opening and property marketing expenses; FF&E expenses for the casino operations; and design and fit-out expenses for the hotel and casino areas
Mar
7
Adelson answers Cotai critics
Filed Under Macau, Cotai, Las Vegas Sands | Leave a Comment
If Cotai goes bust, there’s always the Improv.
News has been alittle slow coming out of Cotai over the past week. At least we have Sheldon Adelson to keep us entertained. In a nice little article about Sheldon’s Cotai Strip® plans, the billionaire answers his critics who say the Chinese just want to gamble, not stay in nice hotels, watch shows, and buy nice things.
“There is no doubt in my mind about the viability of the concept. In order to deny this concept you have to believe that Asian people are different from any other people in the world, that every adult wants to be entertained … and given the choice between curling up with a book about physics or the cosmos or going out and having a good time, most people will say ‘I want a good time’ ” (**more below**)
Adelson also defends China’s form of capitalism:
“…look at the incredible progress they’ve made. So, how can someone say they’re doing the wrong thing because they want to do it their own way? “
And for a classic Adelson zinger:
“My job as CEO is to create visions and implement them. $13 billion is a pretty big bet and if I am wrong, you must conclude I am not very bright or very smart, and the only people who think that are my children.”
Mar
3
A decent Macau article with the mother of all quotes
Filed Under Macau, Macao, Cotai | Leave a Comment
Did he really say that?
There is not really anthing new in this AP article about the Cotai and Macau casino industry. If you have a few minutes to kill, it’s probably worth reading. There is a gem hidden in there however.
I love the quotes thrown around by Adelson, Wynn and the gang, and there has not really been a good one in a while. But that has changed - in a big way.
This could very well be the all time great Macau quote, or great quote from any executive, or anyone - period. According to the article, when Sheldon Adelson was asked if he was concerned that China would legalize gambling outside of Macau, Adelson responded:
“It’s like the threat to my grandfather that my grandmother will develop testicles and then she would be my grandfather”
Only a billionaire could get away with that!
Mar
1
LVS holds Cotai Strip® ground breaking ceremony
Filed Under Cotai, Las Vegas Sands | Leave a Comment
Better late than never.
With Starwood and Shangri-la on hand, LVS held a formal ground breaking ceremony for its Cotai Strip® development.
LVS: “We were so busy with our design and pre-construction activities that we did not even hold a formal groundbreaking for these sites” (*more below*)
Construction is well under way as LVS tries to transform Macau from its dingy gambling reputation to a world-class entertainment, shopping and dining destination.
LVS: “We are now at the point where you will visibly see the structure rise from the ground and take shape.”