No love between casino owners in Macau
When Stanley Ho decided against adding to his string of casino
pearls in Macau recently, it must have come as at least a little
relief to his competition. But that doesn’t mean Ho, the former
uncrowned king of Macau, has decided to play nice with his American
counterparts, including Sheldon Adelson and Steve Wynn. On the
contrary.
Here’s the kind of rhetoric Ho is capable of. In February, Ho told a
corporate executive, “We are Chinese. We should unite against foreign
capital.”
Although Ho was criticized for his words, his remark is in keeping
with the cutthroat nature of doing business in Macau, the smuggler’s
paradise of Asia.
The Strip’s casino titans worked overtime to win casino licenses in
a place long known for its corruption and Triad influence. Now I’m
guessing they’re working even harder to keep their heads above water.