Friday, April 06, 2007

Even as 85-year-old Macau gambling mogul Stanley Ho is in hospital
undergoing treatment for constipation and an injured rectum, the word is out
that Macau has overtaken Las Vegas as the world's biggest casino draw.
Macau's 22 casinos raked in over US$7 billion last year while Las Vegas' 40
casinos lagged behind at US$6.6 billion. A few hours away, Singapore has
also placed its bets on the gaming market. In 2005, the government lifted a
40-year ban on casinos, attracting $6.6 billion of investment from Las Vegas
Sands and Malaysia's Genting after a highly competitive bidding process. To
fund the construction of its resort in the southern island of Sentosa,
Genting announced a partnership with Stanley Ho which would give it a
foothold in the Macau market and Ho an indirect stake in the Singapore
resort - a move which upset Singapore's squeaky clean authorities,
ostensibly for his links to the underworld and money laundering. Ho is also
an avowed polygamist with four wives and 17 children.