Top Rank promoter Bob Arum revealed that he had a long discussion with the Venetian Macao people and the problem was that in order to make a Pacquiao fight work—which needs to have pay-per-view television—the fights would have to be staged at around 10 or 11 a.m. on a Sunday morning in Macau.

“We won’t be able to attract the high rollers, at that time,” said Arum, who as a result, decided to call off the planned fight in Macau, the MST reports.

But Arum said he plans an alternate blockbuster of three world championship bouts, because Macau “desperately wants the fights.”

Arum disclosed that under his plan, two of the title fights will involve Filipinos. “We’ll do it on a Saturday night.”

He said he plans to have the fights televised around Asia and put on in the United States on a small pay-per-view platform, which would appeal to Filipino and Mexican fans. “I think it can work and that’s what I’m looking to do.”

The promoter said that putting Pacquiao in Macau on a Saturday night with the PPV problem would “make no business sense.”

Arum mentioned the possibility of having North American Boxing Federation super bantamweight champion Bernabe Concepcion fight Juan Manuel Lopez , if the undefeated Puerto Rican beats Daniel Ponce de Leon on Saturday and International Boxing Federation flyweight champion Nonito “The Filipino Flash” Donaire taking on WBO super flyweight champion Fernando Montiel of Mexico.

Arum also mentioned the possibility of Z “The Dream” Gorres figuring in a rematch with Montiel to whom he lost a highly controversial split decision in Cebu in February last year if they can’t do the Donaire fight

“There are plenty of guys we can put on,” said Arum, who added he spoke to Donaire’s manager Cameron Duncan. “Even if Gary [Shaw] still has promotional rights, I can work something out with Gary in what would be a really interesting fight.”

Meanwhile, Arum, said trainer Freddie Roach told him: “Manny’s preparation is 100 percent.”

According to Roach, Pacquiao didn’t get out of shape after the March 15 bout with Juan Manuel Marquez in which the Pacman won the WBC super featherweight title in a tough battle.

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Speaking from Asia’s biggest gambling conference in Macau this week, chief executive Paul Oneile said gamblers visiting the former Portuguese enclave were acquiring a taste for machines and were expected to become regular players.

Turnover from poker machines accounted for 5%-6% of the total turnover in Macau, but was set to grow to as much as 20% within five years, he said. The remainder of turnover comes from baccarat, which is the most popular game, the Age reports.

Aristocrat is the top supplier of machines in Macau, with more than 60% of the market, giving it about 6000 machines.

Some in the market have said that the total number of machines will grow from 10,000 to 35,000 in three years.

The projected increase in poker machine patronage was revealed during presentations made by two of the world’s biggest casino companies, Wynn Resorts and the Las Vegas Sands, at the G2E gambling conference this week.

Mr Oneile made the comments about the potential for increased sales in response to comments by Mark Yoseloff, the head of rival poker machine maker Shuffle Master, who was reported to have said he was concerned that some casinos had been removing poker machines from their gaming floors.

“I don’t know if it’s a short-term issue or a long-term issue,” Mr Yoseloff said. “If we were only in the slot machine business, I’d be concerned.”

Crown Macau, in which James Packer has a significant stake, is one of the casinos that has removed at least 350 machines to make room for baccarat tables to lure more VIP gamblers.

But Mr Oneile said the comments from Mr Yoseloff could be dismissed because, while some casinos had poker machines unused in warehouses, demand had now “caught up” with supply.

He said the Venetian Macao, which has the world’s biggest gaming floor, and Wynn Macau had recently dusted-off unused surplus machines and put them on gaming floors to meet demand.

Mr Oneile said some bullish market players had said poker machine turnover could grow to account for as much as 30% of Macau’s gaming turnover — a figure that was not that outlandish, given that Las Vegas makes 80% of its turnover from machines.

Mr Oneile attributed Aristocrat’s success to developing games specifically for Chinese gamblers’ tastes.

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The dreamy “Zaia” features dancers and acrobats depicting a story of a girl who ventures into outer space in Asia’s first permanent Cirque du Soleil installation. It has an initial contract of 10 years.

The gamble that “Zaia” will pull in the crowds is critical for the U.S. casino operator, which suffered an unexpected first-quarter net loss, partly because it lost a significant share of a VIP market made up of high-rollers who gamble upwards of $100,000 a visit.

In contrast with Las Vegas, Macau, a former Portuguese enclave, has a reputation for attracting visitors with little more than gambling on their minds.

High-stakes players have driven growth and are projected to contribute roughly 60 percent of gaming revenues this year.

Las Vegas Sands hopes to change that.

“Obviously, there’s the big gamble here, no pun intended, which is that all of these gamblers that we know Macau can attract are also going to want to see shows and go to great restaurants and do things other than just gamble,” said Mario D’amico, Senior Vice-President for Marketing for the Canada-based Cirque de Soleil.

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In the first quarter of the year, Sand’s lost US$2 million, down from a profit of almost US$40 million last quarter and almost US$91 million during the first quarter of 2007. Income from the Venetian Macao and Sands Macao dropped from USD133 million in the last quarter of 2007 to USD.4 million in the first three months of this year.

“We lost significant amounts of market share of the VIP business …. It’s clearly an unsatisfactory result,” said Bill Weidner, president and chief operations officer, during a first quarter conference call.

As a result the company has decided to compete with other operators offering junkets — which bring in and finance high roller players — by providing higher levels of commission and access to credit. “Today, we’ve already responded and adjusted our commission rates to be more competitive in the VIP marketplace, with two principal objectives,” said Mr Weidner.

“One, growing our VIP market share and two, increasing our cash flow generated from this portion of our business.” In the past the company has been reluctant to offer credit to operators or players due to the potential difficulty of collection and the fact that bad debts are still taxed as revenue by the government.

However a new junket-aggregator at Melco PBL Entertainment Limited’s Crown Macau providing agents with access to lines of credit has seen many operators lose market share over the last three months. “We were talking about our provision for bad debts, is basically non-existent here in Macau. And it’s almost like a bank that doesn’t have a few bad loans they are probably out lending enough money,” said executive vice president, Brad Stone.

“We have expanded credit to our junket reps and as we’ve talked in the past we have done somewhat collateralised by the commissions we owe them. We are going to look at that as well and probably extend more credits to the junket reps themselves those who have performed well.” The results should start showing at the end of this month, the company said.

Overseeing the changes will be management flown in from the USA.

The President of the Las Vegas Venetian and The Palazzo and Senior Vice President of the company, Rob Goldstein will fly into Macau next week together with Mr Weidner to “focus on the evolving VIP market and the direct customer marketing environment in Macau,” said Mr Weidner. “As he will be there next week as will I, we can and we will execute better in the near term,” he added.

Mr Stone has already arrived in Macau to cut operating costs at the company’s two casinos. With a renewed focus on profitability Sand’s is aiming to open the new casino in the Four Seasons property — scheduled for opening in July — without hiring any additional personnel.

“We can operate our current facilities; The Sands Macao, The Venetian Macao more efficiently. Brad Stone is in Macau now heading up a swat team to rationalise operations as we prepare for and open the Four Seasons,” said Mr Weidner.

VIP gaming at the Four Seasons
Part of the new approach with VIPs will see the company dedicate much of the casino space in the Four Seasons development to VIP gaming. The ground floor of the casino will be dedicated to “premium” players brought in directly by the company, while above will see two floors of junket rooms and eventually each of the property’s planned for 19 mansions will house a casino.

Frustrated with the government
Although looking forward to seeing how the government implements the announced commission controls and limitations on new casinos, Sand’s remains frustrated with the approval process for its remaining plots on the Cotai Strip. Although work has started on its plots 3,7 and 8, it is yet to receive formal approval for the developments.

“We have just been frustrated because of some of the challenges within the government, based upon the scandal that happened here in an area that related to the Public Works Department,” said Mr Stone. “There has definitely been a slowing in the pace throughout Macau, of approvals,” he added.

Sheldon’s fantasy — casinos 10 percent of development
Company chairman Sheldon Adelson hopes last week’s announced casino restrictions will result in the closing of the smaller casinos which hire out VIP rooms, he said during yesterday’s conference call. “My fantasy is such, I mean when we first got involved in Macau we were assured that it would take a couple of years to phase out the VIP rooms,” said Mr Adelson.

“I think the announcement by Edmund Ho last week was a reaction to pressure he has gotten from both us and hopefully we don’t know for sure, because we are not that convinced about that kind of pressure, from the Chinese Liaison Office, that the way the development was going was not what they originally intended for it to be.

“So, we are hoping that our goal is to turn a city of seedy backwater gambling dens into a city of convention, business travel, and business and leisure travel, where the casino represent no more than 10 percent of the total amount of space.”

Courtesy :: Macau Daily Times

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To begin with, their tri-generation abalone gala pays tribute to mothers everywhere with an ostentatiously-priced package that may only suit the budget of the very few, and only for May 11.

For a mere US$42,250 the Venetian provides a package that encompasses two nights for six guests in their Palazzo Suite, which is usually only reserved for their exclusive guests and not ordinarily open for public reservation.

Also as part of the package, is daily breakfast for six, the VIP cabin of the Cotai Jet during travel to Macau and VIP round-trip limousine transfer between pier and hotel. As well, guests will have a special abalone dinner cooked by Yeung Koon Yat, world master of culinary arts at the Suite, with the meal also including shark’s fin.

Master Yeung has prepared abalones for the likes of fomrer Chinese President, Deng Xiaoping and former French President, Jacque Chirac. A session at Venetian’s V Spa is also included, as are exclusive gifts from Optica in the form of two pairs of eyewear with a combined value of US$25,000.

A personal assistant at the Grand Canal Shoppes will assist guests while shopping while a gondola ride and the Venetian’s photographer plus flower bouquets complete he package.

For those only interested in the Abalone feast, a menu is set out by Master Yeung Koon Yat between May 1 and 11 for US$410 per person plus service charges.

Mother’s Day dining specials run across several of the Venetian’s restaurants such as Blue Frog, Fogo Samba, Boca, Morton’s and Roka either offering special menus on the day or overall discounts.

Several of the Canal Shoppes will also provide shopping discounts ranging between 10 and 20 percent, or offer free gifts with purchases.

Shops include Dooney, Burke, Nine West, Ecco, DG Lifestyle Store, Enzo, Agnes B, Sisley and Benetton.

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“I think it is excellent news for Macau in general. It is high time to take care of the gaming sections problems,” he said. “It is no good with all the six operators always fighting together using cut throat measures of getting customers into their casino, this is not correct because there is enough room for all six of us.”

“There is no need to do this monkey business, cutting throats, it’s the worst thing possible.”

Mr Ho, also a standing committee member of the Chinese People’s Political Consultative Conference, said the move had been prompted by the central government’s concern with the development of the gaming industry in Macau.

“Now that Beijing is concerned and wants to do something in Macau so that all six operators will be controlled by governments gaming section regarding the commission,” he said.

“I am fully in favour of such an action and I think not only that, we must all agree that in Macau now we have far too many casinos and there is no point of opening up more casinos, more than enough, more than rice shops, so that is something we don’t want to encourage.”

However SJM intends to move ahead with its Macau peninsula project, which will possibly see the expansion of the Jai Alai Casino.

The original behemoth ship-ship shaped development which took in the Jai Alai casino, New Yaohan department store and ferry terminal at the outer harbour has been definitively dropped, said Mr Ho.

“I Stanley Ho will not agree with the Oceanus project, I think too big, too much, we can not operate such a huge project involving so many factors,” he said.

“It may be a good idea from the start but it doesn’t work, I am giving up this project and I think the government is supporting me 100 percent.”

However the Jai Alai casino and department store will be redeveloped shortly, clarified executives later, with construction expected to begin as early as June.

As the application for the development has already been submitted with the government, last week’s announcement of a freeze on new casinos won’t apply to the site, said Ambrose So, director of SJM.

However the final approval has not yet been granted: “I hope the government will give consideration to this contract,” said Louis Ng, director and chief operating officer of SJM.

It remains unclear if the announced control on table numbers will affect the project. Currently Jai Alai operates approximately 60 tables, four VIP rooms and more than 200 slot machines.

“We will consolidate the configuration of the casino (Jai Alai), so this will be extended to the New Yaohan site. It’s, the same gaming license, it’s a new addition,” said Mr So.

“That (the new development) will of course comply with the number of tables allowed by the government. It is a re-configuration of the tables and a re-configuration of the hardware itself, it is not a new casino.”

The executives would not give away details of what else was planned for the site, however when asked about details on hotels and shopping, Mg Ng replied that the target audience is “day-trippers”.

The development will begin once the New Yaohan has relocated to the new building in the centre of the city, which will happen at the end of June or July, said Mr Ng.

Cotai clarification needed

The company is also looking for clarification from the government about what it can build on its two small plots of land in Cotai, which are located in front of the exhibition hall of Venetian Macao and close to the Macau Dome.

“We have submitted our application,” said Mr So. If casinos can be built on the sites “depends on the detail arrangement of the government policy,” he added.

“The government is still not very clear on that point and we would like to further clarify that with the government before we progress.”

Courtesy :: Macau Daily Times

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The launch would give Bangkok Airways a share of the lucrative and booming air traffic demand of the city. Two operators have been serving the city: the no-frills carrier Thai AirAsia and the full-service airline Air Macau.

Bangkok Airways chief executive Prasert Prasarttong-Osoth said the Bangkok-Macau route offered significant potential for a high cabin factor, reaching a high 80% in six months.

The Macau route is one of a handful of low-risk destinations that Bangkok Airways is tapping this year against the backdrop of a looming traffic slowdown and skyrocketing fuel prices.

Bangkok Airways’ foray to Macau came against soaring Thai tourist visits to the the oldest and the last European colony in China, where the huge gambling industry has drawn foreign tourists.

Arrivals from Thailand to Macau have grown impressively in the past few years, leaping from 57,876 in 2005 (up 38.32% year-on-year), to 89,448 in 2006 (up 54.55%) and 140,749 in 2007 (up 57.4%), said Macau Government Tourist Office in Bangkok.

In the first quarter of this year, the numbers skyrocketed to 55,834, an 81.26% jump compared to the first quarter of 2007. For 2008, the arrival numbers are expected to rise 40% in the best case scenario or 20-25% growth under a more conservative projection, said Jarunee Tantinukul, marketing manager of Macau Government Tourist Office’s Bangkok branch.

Last December, Thai AirAsia increased frequencies on the route to four flights a day from three, while Air Macau this year stepped up its services to 10 flights a week from seven.

An industry source said there is a good chance that Air Macau would increase the frequency to 12 a week in the near future.

Thai AirAsia is using an Airbus A320- 200, with 180 passenger seats on the Bangkok-Macau route, while Air Macau operates Airbus A319 and A320 jets.

Bangkok Airways plans to jointly promote its new flights to Macau by offering package deals in co-operation with the huge Venetian Macau Resort, which boasts the world’s biggest casino and is Macau’s latest tourist attraction. The resort is owned by the Las Vegas Sands hotel-casino chain.

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The latest report shows the openings of the Venetian Macau, MGM Grand Macau, Grand Lisboa and Crown Macau last year strengthened the island’s position as a world-class tourist destination.

Despite the slowdown in the number of residential sales transactions in 3Q2007, the overall residential market experienced significant growth in 2007 owing to rising personal incomes, falling interest rates and accelerating inflation. For the first eleven months of 2007, the number of residential transactions recorded a total of 19,946, which already surpassed the level of 2006’s total (17,175 units). The average residential transacted price edged up 21.2% Year-to-Year to an average of US$1,714.50 per sq m of usable area in 3Q2007. This was mainly attributable to the strong performance of the high-end residential sector. In the leasing perspective, the continual inflow of expatriates continued to drive rental upwards. There were a total of 85,207 non-resident workers in Macau as at the end of December 2007, up 27.6% since January 2007.

There were 27 million visitors by the end of last year, which was a year-on-year growth rate of 22.8 per cent. The rising number of visitors as well as increased spending by residents drove retail sales up 33.2 per cent last year and there was a 9.4 per cent year-on-year growth for private consumption expenditure in last year’s third quarter.

The report said sustained low interest rates of about 3 per cent and accelerating inflation, together with strong economic fundamentals, would help trigger stronger demand for residential properties.

“In addition, the proposed plan of the first home buyers loan scheme will add extra impetus to the sales market,” the report said.

And on the all-important hotel sector, the report showed that average hotel occupancy rate was 83 per cent, despite the number of hotel rooms expanding by 24.4 per cent year-on-year to more than 16,000 to the end of December.

“The continuous arrival of new resorts and ongoing development of meetings, incentive tours, conventions and exhibitions industries remain the key factors for a positive outlook.”

Hotel projects in the pipeline include the first stage of Ponte 16, which started operations last month, with 420 rooms in the 20-storey hotel and a 25,000 square metre casino.

There are also four hotel-casino developments scheduled to open this year: the Four Seasons, Sheraton Macau, Shangri-La and the Traders.

“Macau enjoyed almost 30 per cent growth in 2007 as a gaming and entertainment hub,” the Colliers report said. “Gaming revenue increased by 45.7 per cent year on year to more than 24.9 million pataca [$3.43 million] in the fourth quarter 2007, fetching a total of 83.8 billion pataca in 2007.”

Thanks to all that cash rolling in, the average residential price edged up over 20 per cent, with almost 20,000 transactions. Colliers said the residential projects coming on line included Harbour Mile by Sun Tak Property comprising seven towers - five for residential, one for office and retail and one for serviced apartments - due for completion by 2010.

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