Inside Asian Gaming

Oct 2007 | INSIDE ASIAN GAMING 43 Briefs International Briefs DubaiWorld May Raise MGM Stake Dubai World may raise its stake in Las Vegas-based casino com- pany MGM at the right price, the company’s chairman told Zawya Dow Jones in an interview last month. my wife that I had gone to hell but was told to turn back and con- tinue with my work.” Mr Lim completed the road and opened the casino in 1971. It be- came the flagship of his Genting group, which took its name from the resort.The complex,which includes hotels,amusement parks and shopping along with its casinos, attracts more than 15 million visitors each year. The group has other gambling operations in Malaysia and Britain and is developing casinos in Singapore and Macau. It also has inter- ests in leisure businesses, power, oil and gas, property and planta- tions. Its Hong Kong-listed unit, Star Cruises, is the third-largest cruise operator in the world. SkyCity Puts Off Adelaide Casino Sale New Zealand company SkyCity Entertainment Group has shelved a plan to sell its Adelaide casino. The company has had several enquiries about the underperform- ing casino on North Terrace, but SkyCity itself is subject to two take- over approaches which are currently undergoing due diligence and SkyCity executive director Elmar Toime said at the company’s annual meeting in Auckland last month that no decision to sell the casino will be made until that process is complete. “We’ve put the sale of the Adelaide casino on hold pending the outcome of takeover approaches currently in progress,”he said. “However we’re confident that we can make this business work and we’re confident that we have a strong development and recovery plan for Adelaide that underpins our internal evaluation of that business.” Asia Pacific Poker Tour to Stop in Macau PokerStars announced that Macau will be the next stop on the PokerStars.net Asia Pacific Poker Tour, making the Asian Poker Open, with a US$2,500 buy-in main event, the first-ever real-money no-limit hold’em poker tournament to be held in China. The event is sched- uled for November 22-27 at the GrandWaldo Hotel and Casino. A number of players fromTeamPokerStars are planning to attend the event.There will also be a US$15,000 High Rollers Event, satellites, and side events available, in addition to the main event. “The Asia Pacific Poker Tour is honored to be bringing the sport of tournament poker to Macau,” said Jeffrey Haas, president of the APPT.“Macau is already the world’s gaming capital and this historic event diversifies its global attraction by including the APPT’s unique brand of poker tourism. It’s a significant step forward, not only for the APPT, but for the growth of poker in Asia.” Macau Casino Revenue Surges Macau’s third quarter gross casino revenue jumped 46% year- on-year to MOP20.34 billion (US$2.55 billion), according to the city’s Gaming Inspection and Coordination Bureau. This brings Macau’s casino revenue for the first nine months of 2007 to MOP58.32 bil- lion—47% higher than the MOP39.70 billion recorded for the same period last year. A Bloomberg report cited analysts and industry executives say- ing Macau’s revenue has been boosted by high-rollers—who typi- cally spend at least half a million patacas (US$62,620) in casino bet- ting on each trip to the territory—along with the opening of new casinos in the city. With the opening of Venetian Macao in August, the number of gaming tables in Macau reached 3,992 at the end of September, from 2,762 at the end of last year. Elixir to Place More Machines Around Asia Elixir Gaming Technologies Inc announced it has entered into agreements to place an additional 700 slot machines on a participa- tion basis.The machines will be placed at the Cotabato City VIP Club in Cotabato City, Philippines; at the Angkor Paradise Hotel in Siem Reap, Cambodia; at the Diamond Hotel in Phnom Penh, Cambodia; and aboard the MV Jupiter cruise ship operating out of Vietnam. The order brings Elixir’s total commitments for electronic gaming machines to be placed on a long-term participation basis to nearly 4,000. Currently, 320 of the 4,000 machines are in operation, with an- other 1,500 expected to be in operation by the end of the year, the company said. MGM’s board approved a deal in August for Dubai World to buy a 50% stake in CityCenter for US$2.7 billion. CityCenter is a 76-acre de- velopment in Las Vegas of upscale hotels, condos and retail expected to cost US$7.8 billion and open by 2009.

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