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Tycoon Stanley Ho to open his 14th casino in Macau
2005-01-04
MACAU - Casino mogul Stanley Ho will open the Golden Dragon casino on Wednesday, his 14th in the gaming-friendly Chinese enclave of Macau, a spokesperson for his gaming company said.The new casino, called "Dragao Dourado" in Portuguese and "Kam Lung" in Chinese, will comprise 70 gaming tables and 123 slot machines, known as "hungry tigers" in the local gaming jargon. The Golden Dragon is the first new casino to open in Macau in 2005. Company sources say Ho's Sociedade de Jogos de Macau (Macau Gaming Company) plans to open two more casinos this year, one at the Hotel Presidente and the other at the Hotel Fortuna. After the opening of the Golden Dragon, SJM will run 14 of Macau's 16 casinos. Ho, 83, has dominated Macau's gaming industry since 1962. The other two casinos in the enclave, Galaxy Waldo and the Sands, are owned by the Hong Kong Galaxy group and Las Vegas Sands Corp. respectively.According to informed sources, Macau's gaming industry generated a record 40 billion patacas (around $5 billion) in gross revenue last year, an increase of some 40 per cent on 2003. Gambling is heavily restricted in China. The government's income from casino gross-revenue taxes is expected to have reached 15 billion patacas last year. Macau's casinos pay 35 per cent of their gross revenue as tax to the government. Wynn Resorts from Las Vegas, currently under construction, is expected to start operating its first casino in Macau in the middle of 2006.Tourism, hospitality and gaming businesses are estimated by economists to have generated about half of Macau's gross domestic product last year. The government regards the gaming sector as the "dragon-head," or mainstay, of Macau's service and export-oriented economy. The Macau government has granted three casino-operating concessions. Each concessionaire may grant a legally unlimited number of sub-concessions and open as many casinos as market conditions allow. However, each casino requires a specific government licence. Macau's first casinos were licensed by its then Portuguese rulers in 1847.
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