PBL, Ho plan new casino in Macau

Kerry Packer's Publishing & Broadcasting Limited and its Asian gambling partner, Stanley Ho's Melco International Development, plan to build a second casino in Macau believed to worth more than $HK8 billion ($1.3 billion). The PBL/Melco partnership yesterday announced it had paid $US214 million ($277 million) for a 113,325 square metre chunk of land on Macau's Cotai Strip, more than twice the size of Melboune's Crown Casino. With an underwater casino "showcasing tropical marine life", 450 gambling tables, 3000 poker machines, three hotels, two blocks of apartments, and a theatre, the proposed development also dwarfs the partnership's other project in Macau, the Park Hyatt Hotel and Casino (200 tables and 1300 pokies). The casino construction is to begin in the "latter part" of the year with the complex due to open in the middle of 2008. The latest development will be operated by Mr Ho's privately owned Sociedade de Jogos de Macau, the owner of one of the three gaming licences in Macau. Unable to repel the entry of Las Vegas casino moguls Steve Wynn and Sheldon Adelson to the Macau gambling market, Mr Ho joined forces with Mr Packer last November to expand in Macau and other Asian capitals. Gambling revenue in Macau rose 44 per cent to $US5 billion last year and will increase 20 per cent over the next four years, according to Deutsche Bank analyst Marc Falcone. --more--