Harrahs, the Las Vegas giant, looking to expand in Macau

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Created on Friday, 05 June 2009 08:23

Harrah’s Entertainment, the largest casino company on the planet, have stated that they would be keen to apply for a gambling license in Macau if the government there restarts the process and begins to issue new permits. Although the company is in debt to the tune of £22 billion, the company is keen to grow and Macau is an obvious choice.

Gary Loveman, the Chief of the company said Harrah´s were interested in coming into the Macau gaming market because it is “the biggest casino market worldwide and will continue to be for the forseable future.” Harrah´s competitors from the Nevada desert (Sands being one of them) are already in the former Portuguese enclave in the South East of China. Stanley Ho, the local casino taipan, is likely to be concerned that more competition is sniffing around from across the Pacific. He is likely to try and pull some strings behind closed doors to try and make this as difficult as possible for the Americans.

Macau stopped issuing licenses last year to try and dampen down the activity in the city which was running at breakneck speed, but construction has slowed considerably in the current economic climate.

Harrah´s already own a golf course in Macau, and they also have their eye onTaiwan and Japan. The company is planning to make a “significant chunk” of its revenue from Asia within the next ten to fifteen years.