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The second casino to embrace Texas Hold’em poker in Macau will open a dedicated room for the card game tomorrow.

The Grand Waldo casino in Cotai will open a room on the mezzanine level of its casino that will include six cash tables and capacity for 110 tournament players.

The casino will partner with PokerStars, the world’s largest online poker site, which will run weekend tournaments leading up to the Macau leg of the Asia Pacific Poker Tour (APPT) in September.

The weekend tournaments will begin each Thursday evening with a free entry competition and continue with games on Friday, Saturday and Sunday evenings with entry fees ranging from HKD500 to HKD5,000.

 It will be interesting to see how this works in baccarat-crazy Macau.

The mystical creatures which include a white dolphin and peacock, will take to form of employees made up to look like the creatures.

“We are going to paint very beautiful girls, and paint them as the mythical creatures,” said Mr Caveny.

“Anyone who knows Galaxy and knows our property knows we are renowned for beautiful girls.”

The Cotai Mega-Resort, due to be opened midway through next year will also incorporate the company’s trade mark in its central aquarium.

“Sex sells, there won’t be any fish swimming in it [in the aquarium], it will be beautiful girls,” said Mr Caveny.

Source: http://cotaicasinonews.com/2008/04/02/cotai-mega-resort-to-sell-sex-appeal/

“Our dreams are taking shape. In approximately one year, City of Dreams will begin to welcome visitors from all over the world,” said Lawrence Ho, Co-Chairman and CEO of MPEL at the topping out ceremony. “Macau is transforming from a gaming-focused destination into a leisure hot spot. City of Dreams will continue to drive this phenomenon and usher in a new era of gaming and entertainment in Macau.”

One of the iconic landmarks of City of Dreams will be a free attraction that will provide visitors with a totally immersive experience, unlike anything they have seen in Asia or elsewhere in the world. Housed in a unique dome-shaped theatre, the production will combine high-definition video content, a customized music score, thousands of theatrical lights and a variety of sensory effects to create a spectacular 10-minute visual extravaganza that is sure to become a must-see for every visitor to Macau.

Renowned for spectacular and imaginative productions, Dragone will stage a permanent show at City of Dreams. Founder Franco Dragone will personally direct the breathtaking water-themed show, created specifically for City of Dreams, which is due to open in Macau in the second half of 2009.

The first phase of the USD2.1 billion City of Dreams development, including the casino and the 330 room Hard Rock Hotel, including casino, and the 295 room Crown Towers Cotai is due to open in late March next year.
In total the project covers 110,000 square metres of land and will also see a two-tower Grand Hyatt and apartment complex due to be open by the end of 2009.
The resort is centred around a glass bubble rising out of podium which will combine “high definition video content …. thousands of theatrical lights and a variety of sensory effects to create a spectacular 10 minute visual extravaganza,” according to a press hand-out.
A 2,000 seat arena, also due to be completed by the end of 2009 will host a regular show performed by Dragone Entertainment which produced a number of Celine Dion’s Las Vegas shows.

Sociedade de Jogos de Macau, the gaming and gambling company controlled by magnate Stanley Ho, said Monday in Macau that profit in 2007 totalled 1.8 billion patacas (US$225 million), a fall of 20 percent against 2006.

According to information given to journalists by Stanley Ho and Ambrose So, both directors of SJM, the company’s turnover totalled 33 billion patacas and 12 billion patacas were paid in taxes to the government.

They added that 1 billion patacas would be distributed as dividends to the company’s shareholders. Sociedade de Turismo e Diversões de Macau, the former holder of the monopoly in gaming and gambling in Macau, owns 80 percent of SJM.

SJM’s accounts were approved in a marathon of general meetings held Monday in Macau and which included several companies controlled by Stanley Ho via SJM and Sociedade de Turismo e Diversões de Macau.

SJM controls 19 of the 29 casinos in operation in Macau and is the only operator in the territory that is not, directly or indirectly, listed on a stock exchange.

“Thanks to A-Max’s junkets, Melco PBL’s market share improved substantially from 5.7 per cent in November to 18.1 per cent in February, making Crown Macau the busiest casino in the world in terms of betting volume. If we focus on market share in the high-roller segment alone, the improvement was even more astonishing with market share increasing from 6.6 per cent in November to 24.8 per cent in February.”

“A-Max junkets generated about $US5.3 billion ($5.8 billion) in rolling chip turnover in February, up about 5 per cent month on month. In our view, there is room for further growth.

“We expect A-Max’s junkets to generate on average $US6.3 billion rolling chip turnover per month in 2008.”

New Cotai Holdings, through a wholly-owned subsidiary, is one of the owners of Macao Studio City, a project being developed on a 32.3-acre site in the Cotai strip.
Mr Power, who has been in Macau for five years, joins New Cotai from Sands Macao, where he was Senior Vice President of Operations.
Bringing to the New Cotai team over 16 years of international gaming experience, Mr Power is recognised and well respected in gaming circles for his extensive understanding of the industry, having worked in the United States, Argentina, South Africa, the Philippines and Macau.
Mr Power was a member of the management team that built Sands Macao. He was most recently its Senior Vice President of Operations, where he was instrumental in the success of the first Western casino in Macau.
As part of his responsibilities, Mr Power oversaw casino operations, hotel operations, all food and beverage outlets and security operations. Well known in the industry for his expertise in the operation and mathematical analysis, as well as the financial impact of “non-negotiable” chip programs, Mr Power was integrally involved in developing and implementing VIP and junket programs for the Sands Macao.
Mr Power was also a member of the Compliance Committee and Credit Committee of Venetian Macao Limited, the parent company of the Sands Macao. Prior to the Sands opening, Mr. Power oversaw the training of 2,000 local residents to become casino employees, the largest casino dealer training operation in the history of the gaming industry.
“Walt is truly a unique individual with operational and management experience that is very difficult to find, and we are delighted that he has chosen to join our growing enterprise,” said David Friedman, Chairman and CEO of New Cotai Holdings.

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.