THE M3: TAIWAN; ADELSON; BEST WESTERN BOUGHT; TOURIST ARRIVALS

12/23/13 07:43AM EST

THE MACAU METRO MONITOR, DECEMBER 23, 2013

SLEEPY ISLAND WANTS TO CASH IN ON CHINA'S GAMBLING ADDICTION CNBC

According to Kuang S. Yeh, Taiwan's deputy minister of transportation and communication, A bill to legalize gambling is now being reviewed by Taiwan's Legislature.  Yeh said it has an 80-90% chance of approval.  "If we can pass it by the end of this year or early next year, then I would say we start operating around 2019," Yeh said. "There are currently only 100,000 tourists visiting Matsu this year, but we don't know how much new tourism would come—at least 10 times more."

BILLIONAIRE ADELSON MULLS EUROPE'S BIG CITIES FOR CASINOS Bloomberg

LVS is considering building individual integrated resorts in major European cities, 10 days after abandoning a plan to construct a $30 billion mega-resort in Spain.  “I’m looking at a different model of doing Singapore-like or Japan-like or Korea-like individual IRs in individual cities,” LVS CEO, Sheldon Adelson said. “We will just take the major cities in Europe and see whether or not there is a possibility to pursue that.”  In Asia, it “looks like” Japan, Korea, possibly Vietnam, Taiwan, and Thailand will allow the establishment of integrated resorts, said Adelson.

EMPEROR INTERNATIONAL BUYS BEST WESTERN HOTEL Macau Business

Emperor International Holdings Ltd has bought the three-star Best Western Hotel on Taipa for HK$900 million, a 17-storey hotel in Taipa with 262 rooms.  The Best Western has no gaming facilities, after Mocha Clubs shut its slot machine parlour there last month.

GOVT EXPECTS TOURIST ARRIVALS WILL SLOW NEXT YEAR Macau Business

According to Macau Government Tourist Office director Maria Helena de Senna Fernandes, tourist arrivals will grow by less than 5% in 2014.  Senna Fernandes said the tourist office would focus on attracting big spenders.

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