US tycoon opens casino in Macau

[dArKeR]

AP , MACAU
Wednesday, May 19, 2004,Page 12

A Las Vegas tycoon raised the stakes in Macau's gambling industry yesterday with a new casino that will bring competition to the tiny enclave's top industry for the first time in more than 40 years.

The operator of the Venetian on the Las Vegas Strip, Sheldon Adelson, hopes that a big dose of Nevada's glitter and glitz will attract the mainly Chinese gamblers who drop billions of dollars every year at casinos run by the Hong Kong billionaire Stanley Ho.

The Las Vegas Sands, which was to open its doors to gamblers yesterday afternoon, cost US$240 million and will feature 277 gaming tables and 405 slot machines.

http://www.taipeitimes.com/News/worldbiz/archives/2004/05/19/2003156159

[DustMolecule]

1. Interesting.....

I haven't been to Macau in more than ten years, but 'back then' Macau's gambling was just 'really raw' (just went into the casino's out of curiousity, I'm NO gambler, that's for sure). No glitz, no glitter....yet the places were still packed!

On edit: one other thing I just remembered, the 'community' of Macau didn't seem to get any sort of stipend or revenues from the casino's, because everything was really 'dirt poor'. Sick-looking dogs wandering the streets, too many people packed together, everything dirty and old. Will Mr. Ho's venture help bring up the community?