After forty years of a gaming monopoly in Macau, Stanley Ho is now in a joint venture with the MGM Mirage group and seems to be heading for another with Australian Kerry Packer’s Publishing & Broadcasting Limited (PBL). The MGM Mirage joint venture is with Stanley Ho’s Macau-based company Sociedad de Jogos de Macau (SJM) but this new joint venture with PBL will be with his Hong Kong listed Melco International Development.

Shares have ceased trading until an announcement about a ‘major transaction’ is made. Melco has interests in finance, technology and leisure and Stanley Ho is reported to be considering placing more of his gambling business into the company. Shares in Melco rose on the news. A statement to the Hong Kong Stock Exchange said there was the possibility that Melco would become the listed flagship of the Ho gambling empire.

Kerry Packer’s PBL did not bid for a Macau gaming licence in 2002 but has been seeking to get into the lucrative Asian market. It appears that the company may be considering Thailand and Vietnam, although Thailand has yet to decide on legalizing casinos and Vietnam has two foreigners-only casinos. Gambling in Vietnam is still technically illegal, but casinos were legalized in 1994 and the first one opened was by Stanley Ho’s Sociedad de Turismo e Diversoes de Macau (STDM) in Do Son.

PBL has also been looking to get a management contract at a Macau casino. Asian gaming expansion, and particularly in Macau, is seen as competition for the company’s Australian casinos in Melbourne and Perth. A management contract in Macau would provide low-cost exposure and help spread entertainment costs for high-roller clients, as well as moderate the competition for the Australian casinos.

Neither Stanley Ho nor Kerry Packer has limited their ambitions in the gaming industry. Kerry Packer is in a joint venture with Aspinall in the UK with at least three casino projects. Stanley Ho has an online gaming site DrHo888.com and other gaming interests in Asia. If the speculation on the Asian joint venture proves to be correct, then the alliance of the two empire-builders should prove to be a lucrative one.

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