Billionaire Stanley Ho Opens New Casino in Macau Amid Invasion by Las Vegas Casino Tycoons
MACAU (AP) -- Thousands of gamblers on Sunday jammed into a new casino owned by a local billionaire who is trying to fend off an invasion by Las Vegas tycoons who have been gobbling up market share in the booming Chinese territory of Macau.
Many of the punters who crowded into the Grand Lisboa -- shaped like a huge lotus flower covered in blinking lights -- were big-betting mainland Chinese who helped push Macau past the Las Vegas Strip last year as the world's gaming center.
The five-floor casino is owned by Hong Kong billionaire Stanley Ho, who held a monopoly on gaming in Macau for four decades until 2002. The former Portuguese enclave -- two islands and a peninsula off China's southeastern coast -- is the only place in China where casinos are legal.
In the past four years, some of the biggest names from Las Vegas -- Las Vegas Sands Corp.'s Sheldon Adelson, Wynn Resorts Ltd.'s Stephen Wynn and MGM Mirage Inc. -- have been aggressively building casinos, luxury hotels and mega resorts in Macau.
Before he opened the 3 billion Hong Kong dollar ($384 million) Grand Lisboa on Sunday, the 85-year-old Ho acknowledged that his market share slipped to 63 percent last year, and analysts widely agree that it will erode further. But Ho, who has 17 casinos in Macau, said his new flagship Grand Lisboa would compete well with the Las Vegas-style casinos because of his long experience in the market.
"We are the leaders, not the followers," he said. "We know the city well."
Ho is battling a common perception that his casinos are stodgy, smoky and plagued with surly service.
His new five-floor casino was decorated with plush red carpet and silver light fixtures with strands of crystal beads. The gaming floors have 240 tables and 484 slot machines.
The 52-story building -- with a 430-room hotel that opens later this year -- has a round base that looks like a giant Faberge egg covered in lights the flash red, green and gold. The design of its tower was inspired by the long plumes of a Brazilian showgirl's headdress. The lobby is decorated with 580,000 Swarovski crystals, gold plated leaves and crystal balls.
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