Like his legendary father, Kerry Packer, who never flinched against impossible odds, his son James seems to take raising the ante not just as second nature, but almost as an imposition on himself. So far, there has been no time like this to raise the biggest ante in the business, on a development that although it may promise the earth, may prove the undoing of lesser mortals in the olympian bid for the Sentosa Island casino licence in Singapore.

James Packer, PBL chairman, heads the "Eighth Wonder" consortium, bidding US $3.55 (AU$4.5) billion for the South East Asian entertainment complex to be sited at the island 'discovered' by mid-20th century Howard Hughes-style adventurer Harry O'Brien. Now it emerges that the new complex could called "Harry's Island", which would be appropriate, for the coincidence that Harry is also the affectionate family name of the founder of modern Singapore, Lee Kuan Yew. Kerry would have simply said: " If anything helps..."

The "Eighth Wonder" consortium also has Hong Kong's Lawrence Ho, the son of Macau casino mogul and billionaire Stanley Ho, as partner along side with the likes of legendary soccer player Pele, Las Vegas Cirque du Soleil creator Franco Dragone, gourmet chef and restauranteur par excellance, Alain Ducasse and his 14 Michelin stars, wellness guru Deepak Chopra, Marco Balich, the man behind the 2006 Winter Olympics ceremonies, Vera Wang for fashio, and Philippe Cousteau, grandson of Jacques for their oceanographic water world . Over the top? Not a bit, if anything helps.

Like any big player, however, the Singapore deal is not a Sentosa or bust affair, because the PBL commitment is less than half a billion dollars, soaking up only a small part of the US $3.55 billion released from the half-sale of the local media assets. If the deal comes sweet for Packer, however, "it will cement his focus on building his gaming-resort business around this side of the Pacific -- from Macau through Singapore to the two casinos in Australia, at Burswood in Perth and Crown in Melbourne." (E-12.04.06)

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