Inside Asian Gaming

14 hen a casino is a lead story on in- ternational satellite news channels, it’s clear something significant is happening. That something is The Venetian Macao- Resort-Hotel, a casino resort wrapped in ar- chitecture aping Italy’s famous canal city— but in this case perched on another set of mud flats thousands of miles away near the mouth of China’s Pearl River. The charm of The Venetian is partly its audacity. Only an American company would have the courage to build a fake version of a European Renaissance city a few miles from a real Unesco World Heritage Site with real 16th century buildings and win internation- al plaudits for it. Las Vegas Sands Corp (LVS), the company behind the venture, hasn’t just got away with it. New Macau, as represented by The Venetian, appears to have totally eclipsed old Macau—as far as a Chinese au- dience is concerned. The key word in The Venetian’s title is ‘Resort’. This isn’t one of the old style Macau casinos with its smoky halls and ladies of du- bious virtue.This is a place the size of a small European town with the facilities of a middle ranking European city, including a 15,000- seat arena. You could stay here for a week or even a fortnight without even needing to go outside. In fact, that appears to be part of the business plan of LVS Chairman and principal shareholder Sheldon Adelson. It’s as near to wholesome family fun as a casino is ever like- ly to get. In an unguarded moment, Mr Adel- son’s right handman and company president William Weidner described The Venetian as the “casino that ate Macau”. An idea commonly heard in the media is that TheVenetian and its 1.2million sq.ft con- vention centre, the 20,000 hotel rooms being developed by LVS along the Cotai Strip, and vast network of shopping malls will eat not only Macau but also Hong Kong’s convention and exhibition industry and possibly some of its Asian neighbours. Mr Adelson doesn’t agree. He is fond of patiently explaining to journalists that this view is based on the false assumption that there is a finite and static demand for his products. He patiently explained it to them again at the official opening of The Venetian on 28th August. “There is no facility, including Las Vegas or several Las Vegases in Asia, that will satisfy the demand,”he told the assembledmedia— made up this time not just of the usual sus- pects from the trade and regional press, but of reporters from all over the world. Threat or not? Yet information from his own company suggests The Venetianmay well pose a threat to neighbouring convention markets. In a press release LVS says:“Recent shows booked by The Venetian Macao include; the ISSA/InterClean show, which is relocating an Look Who’s Coming to Dinner The casino that ate Macau books a place at the Asian trade show table W Marina Bay Sands