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The
Business Times, 23 Jun 04
Stanley Ho's Sociedade may pitch for S'pore
casino
Gaming company says it is interested in new opportunities in Asia
SOCIEDADE de Jogos de Macau, a gaming company controlled by Stanley
Ho, may seek to operate a casino in Singapore as it looks for business
outside Macau, where the tycoon has lost a long-standing monopoly.
'We would be interested to look at various opportunities that are
opening up in Asia, Singapore included,' Sociedade de Jogos Director
Ambrose So said here yesterday. The company is four-fifths owned by
closely-held Sociedade de Turismo e Diversoes de Macau. Mr Ho, 82,
is chairman of both companies. Las Vegas Sands last month opened a
new casino in Macau, a former Portuguese colony where, until 2001,
Mr Ho's empire had a monopoly on such concessions.
In response, Mr Ho is looking abroad to countries such as Singapore,
where the government this year said it would consider including a
casino in a hotel and resort complex planned for its southern islands.
'Singapore is very well situated in the Southeast Asia region,' Mr
So said at a conference in Singapore.
Depending on the conditions set out by the Singapore government, Sociedade
de Jogos may seek the business, he said. Las Vegas Sands last month
also expressed interest in the Singapore project.
Other US companies expanding in Asia include MGM Mirage, the No 3
US casino company, which yesterday said it plans to build and manage
a casino in Macau in partnership with Mr Ho's daughter Pansy.
Singapore, which currently allows only lotteries and betting on horse-racing,
is planning an island resort development in a bid to attract tourists
and boost an economy that has suffered three recessions in the past
six years. The city has said it wants a casino catering to high-spending
customers but it may restrict access for some of its four million
people.
A Singapore casino would have to compete for business with the highland
resort operated outside Kuala Lumpur by Genting Bhd, which earlier
reported net profit climbed 14 per cent to RM223 million (S$100.8
million) in the first quarter, after Malaysia's visitor arrivals surged
38 per cent from a year earlier to 3.98 million.
In Macau, competition from the new US$240 million Sands Macau casino
run by Las Vegas Sands hasn't hurt Sociedade de Jogos so far, Mr So
said. 'I think the pie is still growing and at a greater rate than
the casinos are expanding,' he said. 'Since Sands came into operation
in May, we still reported a 24 per cent increase in sales from April.'
About 3.75 million tourists, more than half from China, visited Macau
in the first quarter, a 25 per cent increase from last year. 'We know
our market well and we are rooted in Macau, we understand the customers.
We have a different cultural background,' Mr So said. - Bloomberg
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