Macau Gambling King Stanley Ho Out To Regain His Empire
His gambling empire in Macau, that is, that has slipped largely since Las Vegas casino-hotel moguls decided to invade his land.
On Sunday, Stanley Ho opened his new Grand Lisboa casino. The new structure is reputed to compete with all those Vegas style casinos that are fast mushrooming in Macau, particularly in the Cotai-Macau gambling district.
You see, this 85-year-old billionaire had monopoly of casino gambling on the island, and the whole of Asia on the larger scale. Because Macau is the singlemost place in Asia where gambling is legal, in all sense of the word.
He built 17 casinos that has become stodgy, smoky and with very bad service. No one really complained much because Asian gamblers had nowhere else to go in the region. Until 2002 that is when the Chinese government opened its doors to other private casino investors, like Steve Wynn and the Sands’ Sheldon Adelson.
Naturally, the humongous casinos overshadowed Ho’s mini-empire. Prompting him to build his new Grand Lisboa casino. And it is posed to reclaim the international gambling community’s attention.
The $384 million 52-story building has 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.
Plus the 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.
This gives another headache to Las Vegas. Remember that last year, Macau has surpassed Vegas as the top gambling destination in the world. The continuous casino constructions show sign that this isn’t about to change in the coming years.
For one, going to Macau is much cheaper than a holiday vacation in Vegas. And if Vegas-style gambling is available here, why spend your life’s savings going all the way to the States?
Las Vegas Sands and Wynn Resorts, have already built mega-casinos in Macau and other competitors including MGM Mirage are due to enter the market later this year.
That UK billionaire, Richard Branson, was also reported ready to purchase a parcel of land to build a $3 billion casino. So will he call it the Virgin Casino?
Anyway, it’s not like Ho’s fortune will greatly suffer if these foreign-owned casinos finally take over Macau gambling. He’s still the largest owner of land in Macau! And as these developments rise, so will the price of land.
So in the end, Stanley Ho is still Macau’s richest landlord.