The Macau Metro Monitor, April 12, 2012
SANDS LOT 3 COULD BE OPEN IN THREE YEARS Macau Business, Macau Daily Times
LVS Chairman Sheldon Adelson says the piling works on lot three in Cotai could be in by year-end. Adelson added that it could then take up to 30 months for the property to be completed. Adelson disclosed that the company had so far spent US$ 4.4 billion to develop the Sands Cotai Central project and more will be invested. LVS will have invested as much as US$5 billion when the fourth tower of the Cotai Central is complete in 2013.
LVS COO Michael Leven said that the courts are still deciding where the Steve Jacbos lawsuit should take place – Macau or Las Vegas. “Our opinion is that the lawsuit should be in Macau,” Leven said. “When that happens then it will progress to discovery, and that will probably take another six or eight months, another year or so, it's going to go on for a long time.”
Sands Macau CEO, Edward Tracy, stressed that the casinos on the Cotai Strip were different from those on the Macau Peninsula, especially those closer to the Barrier Gate where visitors tend to stay a shorter period of time and only engage in gaming. Those on the Cotai Strip have more leisure and entertainment elements and would not be in direct competition with casinos elsewhere. Tracy expected visitors to the resort to stay longer in order to enjoy leisure and shopping activities. He estimated that the average time of stay by visitors to Macau would reach 3.6 days in five years’ time, compared with the current 1.5 days.
Q1 GAMING REVENUE MEETS EXPECTATION Macau Daily News
Secretary for Economy and Finance Francis Tam said the growth of Macau’s gaming revenue in Q1 is in-line with expectations despite a slowdown. He says that the government has approved 200 new gaming tables to Sands Cotai Central, and will maintain Macau’s total number of gaming tables within 5,500 by 2013. There were 5,302 gaming tables in Macau as of the Q4 of 2011.
SJM CEO Ambrose So says he is expecting gaming revenue growth to grow double-digits in 2012.
JUNKET SUES JAPANESE BUSINESSMAN FOR HKD 110MM Macau Daily Times
A Hong Kong junket operator filed a lawsuit in Japan against the former chairman of leading paper manufacturer, Daio, for failing to repay a debt of HKD 110 million (Yen 1.1 billion) he owed to the junket operator and subsequently lost in a Macau casino in 2010.
Ikawa Tomotaka, former chairman of Daio Paper, borrowed the money from “Million Win Investments Limited”, on separate occasions two years ago. The Japanese businessman promised to settle the debt last year but only paid about one-tenth of the amount. As a result, the junket operator decided to bring the case to court in Tokyo, according to Japanese newspapers. In an attempt to repay the debt, the ex-chairman borrowed a total of approximately Yen 5.5 billion in unsecured loans from seven subsidiaries of Daio Paper from March to September last year and caused substantial financial damage to these affiliated companies.
CHINA BANK LENDING SOARS TO TOP 1 TRILLION YUAN Marketwatch
Chinese banks lent 1.01 trillion yuan ($160.1 billion) during March, much higher the 880 billion yuan that the Street was expecting.