Friday, Sept. 19, 2003 | 11:06 a.m.
A Macau government regulator doesn't think Las Vegas casino executive Steve Wynn will abandon efforts to establish a presence in the Chinese resort city over his frustration that Macau's lawmakers haven't yet approved gaming legislation.
Jorge Costa Oliveira, director of Macau's International Law Office, said Thursday there's too much at stake for Wynn to give up the license he won last year to operate in Macau. Oliveira also was critical of Wynn for being vocal about his frustration that lawmakers haven't completed their work.
"In China, you don't express your concerns with a megaphone," Oliveira said in a panel on Las Vegas companies entering the Macau market, conducted on the final day of the four-day Global Gaming Expo at the Las Vegas Convention Center.
Wynn delayed breaking ground on a casino project last month and said that the delay was over uncertainties about taxation policies that had yet to be approved.
The delay is expected to back up the opening of a Wynn casino in Macau until after his Wynn Las Vegas project -- formerly known as Le Reve -- is completed in early 2005.
Oliveira said he is confident that lawmakers will complete their work on legislation by the end of the year as originally projected. He said he doesn't think Wynn will turn his back on a gaming market that produced $2.85 billion in revenue in 2002 and is projected to expand to $5 billion when competitors to the existing gaming concession open their doors.
Contacted Thursday afternoon, Wynn had no comment on Oliveira's remarks.
Wynn, who is seeking the enactment of provisions that would allow casinos to write off uncollectable debts from taxable casino revenue, has grown progressively more frustrated in the past year.
Last month, Wynn said he had received assurances in February that legislation would be drafted soon. Wynn said in August that if Macau did not provide a regulatory environment that he considered safe, he would walk away from the deal, which would create 10,000 jobs.
Macau's legislature is expected to take up the gaming and taxation issues in October.
Wynn's decision to delay building is a stark contrast to the plan undertaken by Las Vegas Sands Inc. (Venetian) owner Sheldon Adelson, who has a casino under construction and another on the drawing board in Macau.
David Friedman, an assistant to Adelson and one of the architects of the company's Macau strategy, said his company is pressing ahead with its building program because the company has confidence that regulations approved by the lawmakers will be satisfactory to the company. The reason: Company officials are helping lawmakers draft the rules.
"We made a decision early in our due diligence that we would work within whatever regulatory structure was approved so long as it was acceptable to our corporate compliance rules and it wouldn't affect our licensing in Nevada," Friedman said in his panel presentation.
After the presentation, he explained that company officials shared some of their corporate compliance guidelines with Macau lawmakers and met with regulators to offer ideas that could be incorporated into the new gaming legislation.
The first of two Macau casino projects by the company that owns the Venetian hotel-casino in Las Vegas is expected to be completed by March, Friedman said. The project -- known as the Las Vegas Sands -- would have a 170,000-square-foot casino with 288 table games and about 500 slot machines.
A second project is planned on Macau's Cotai Strip and would include a replica of the Las Vegas Strip's Venetian hotel-casino as the centerpiece of a cluster of resorts.
In another G2E convention panel with international flavor, an organization that monitors compulsive gambling in Great Britain is warning that the liberalization of gaming legislation in that country could lead to a higher percentage of people with addictive gambling problems.
Teresa Tunstall, development officer for GamCare of London, said her organization estimates that only 0.8 percent of the nation's 60 million citizens have a compulsive gambling disorder. That, however, could increase if the British Parliament moves to allow more gambling venues as planned, she said.
GamCare -- the National Association for Gambling Care, Educational Resources and Training -- is a charity that says it is neutral toward the casino industry, but it works to counsel people with addictive behavior, particularly compulsive gambling. Tunstall said in the G2E panel that her group is lobbying to mandate that casino companies be required to finance research and treatment by GamCare.
Peter Dean, chairman of the Gaming Board of Great Britain, said during the panel that a tax rate on casinos still hasn't been discussed in liberalization proposals. Presently, existing casinos, keno parlors and sports books pay up to 40 percent of revenue in taxes.
Several Nevada companies have expressed varying degrees of interest in casino opportunities in Great Britain, some signing deals and others exploring possibilities.
Harrah's Entertainment Inc., Las Vegas, announced a $1 billion joint venture with Nottingham-based Gala Group to build eight regional casinos. MGM MIRAGE bought a 25 percent stake in Metro Casinos Ltd., Barnet, and the Las Vegas company has expressed interest in other deals.
Reno-based International Game Technology, the nation's dominant slot machine manufacturer, acquired Barcrest Games, Lancashire. Analysts have said changes in Great Britain would have a huge impact on the slot industry and new opportunities for IGT and Las Vegas rival Alliance Gaming Corp.
Adelson is investigating the development of casinos in England and Scotland if gaming laws are liberalized, according to reports published in London.
Three other Las Vegas companies -- Park Place Entertainment Corp., Mandalay Resort Group and Wynn Resorts Ltd. -- have said they are considering deals in Great Britain, but are awaiting additional details on regulations.
Dean also said Isle of Capri Casinos Inc., Biloxi, Miss., and Bahamas-based Kerzner International Ltd., which is listed on the New York Stock Exchange, also are considering bids in Great Britain.
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