Issue 191
May 10 - 16, 2004
Volume 4
page 2
 

Casino kings to make Macau `world's No 1'
As reported by The Standard

The architect behind the Las Vegas Sands casino in Macau believes the former Portuguese enclave will become the world's biggest tourist attraction by 2009.

``I can see it happening in five years,'' Paul Steelman, the 48-year-old president of the Paul Steelman Design Group, said.

``Modern-day Las Vegas was really built about 11 years ago. When Atlantic City came about, everyone said that Las Vegas would be dead. But it didn't die because it had a head start. Macau has a head start in its own right so I would say that the real money is here. I believe that you'll see the remarkable creation of a city.''

By some estimates, the creation of 77,000 hotel rooms is on the drawing board for Macau, including 600 this year, 2,000 in 2005 and possibly 2,100 in 2006. This is not including the first phase of The Venetian mega-resort development, which has about 17,000 rooms. Macau has a current stock of roughly 8,900 hotel rooms versus about 43,000 in Hong Kong.

According to Steelman, who was born in Atlantic City, developer Sheldon Adelson's Las Vegas Sands casino will feature 51 suites. Galaxy Resort and Casino, which is building a nearby hotel, will add another 150 rooms when the property opens later this month or in early June. Rival Steve Wynn's casino is scheduled for a 2006 opening.

Although it is easy to assume that there will be a huge hotel room glut, consider that Macau attracted more than 1.11 million visitors in February, some 60 per cent of whom originated from China, according to government tourism figures. In 1962, when Macau's gambling tycoon, Stanley Ho, bought the casino monopoly through his Sociedade de Turismo e Diversoes de Macau, the annual number of visitors was only about 500,000.

``One of the rules we follow in Las Vegas is to extend the day trips and that depends on the number of hotel rooms. In the same way, the convention business is only good if there are hotel rooms,'' Steelman said. ``But casinos don't rob gamblers from one another. They expand the market.''

Still, even with the opening of phase one of Las Vegas Sands, which is expected to include the Dumpling Night Market restaurant, a Las Vegas-style buffet as well as some gaming facilities, it is difficult not to patronise Ho's establishments. Other than his landmark Lisboa casino and hotel, Ho has stakes in Mandarin Oriental (Macau) and The Westin Resort, the passenger shipping joint venture with China Travel, Macau International Airport, Air Macau, the Macau Tower, Macau Golf and Country Club, Macau Horse Racing Company, Jai-Alai Shopping Centre and more.

``It will be highly competitive and Stanley Ho does have a head start,'' Steelman said.

``But what we are trying to do with Macau is to create a group of casinos where gamblers can walk from one to the next as their luck changes. In this industry, one is not good.''

 

 

 

 

Cherokee Nation Plans New Casino
As reported by The Times Record

A new casino planned for Sallisaw will open in spring 2005, will employ 100 to 125 people and could add between $1.45 million and $3.12 million in annual payroll to the local economy, Cherokee Nation Enterprises officials said Wednesday.

The new, about 20,000-square-foot Cherokee Casino will be located off Interstate 40 on the northwest corner of U.S. 59 and I-40. It is part of an overall Cherokee Nation Enterprises plan to provide an entertainment venue in Sallisaw, a press release states.

The wholly owned corporation of the Cherokee Nation also purchased from local owners seven acres due west of the casino site for parking and the 33-room Southern Hearth Inn, also adjacent to the casino site. The last land purchase was completed last week, Cherokee Nation Communication Officer Mike Miller said.

The total investment will be in the $6 million to $7 million range, considering construction costs, money spent with local vendors and the jobs, CEO and President David Stewart said. It'll have a substantial economic impact on Sallisaw.

 

Study shows casinos have
a positive effect
As reported by The Associated Press

US - In nine states with both casinos and state lotteries, state gambling revenues increased when a new casino opened, according to a report released Wednesday.

Results of the 200-page study show that approval of a destination casino in West Warwick would have "a positive economic effect on the state," said Clyde Barrow, director of the Center for Policy Analysis at the University of Massachusetts, Dartmouth.

The detailed impact analysis, presented during a Senate caucus, predicted that in four years the new casino would bring in about US$510 million, create over 3,000 construction jobs, and would pay yearly taxes of nearly $138 million to the state.

Barrow based these projections on a 25 percent gaming tax proposed by the Narragansett Indians and Harrah's Entertainment, who have partnered to build a casino in West Warwick. A casino cannot be built unless approved by the voters.

When compared to facilities in the other states surveyed, a 25 percent tax rate is on the high end, Barrow said. If the state were to double the gambling tax for the proposed West Warwick casino to come closer to the 60 percent rate paid by Lincoln Park and Newport Grand, investors in the $498 million construction project would "start to grow skeptical," Barrow said.

The study also shows the state losing about 10 percent of its tax income from Lincoln Park and Newport Grand.

Jerry Seinfeld

Caesars Palace: Funnyman Jerry Seinfeld brings his unique brand of “observational comedy” to Las Vegas when he returns for a two-night engagement at The Colosseum at Caesars Palace.

Date: June 11-12, 2004

Price: $82.50 - $165.00

Time: Friday June 11th at 7:30 p.m.
& Saturday June 12th at 7:30 p.m. & 10:30 p.m.

 

For more information please call: (888) 702-3544

 
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