US casino giant to fight ruling against its Macau casino partner
Posted by Gavin Smith on 04 Jun 2009 at 12:06
American casino and gaming firm MGM Mirage has said it will challenge regulators who said its partner in a Chinese casino project was "unsuitable".
The Associated Press reports executives at the company will oppose the report which said it should cut links with Pansy Ho on a project in Macau, China.
The recommendation came from officials in New Jersey, who Associated Press (AP) reports came to the decision due to Ms Ho's father, Stanley, being allegedly linked with organised crime.
Ms Ho and MGM Mirage are partners in the MGM Grand Macau casino resort.
Quoted by AP, Lloyd Nathan, MGM Mirage president of global gaming development, said: "We disagree with their recommendation, Pansy Ho has been and is a great partner in Macau."
The report was delivered by the Division of Gaming Enforcement, New Jersey, and while MGM Mirage is not obliged to follow the reccomendation, it could have an influence if there is a hearing on it run by the state casino commission.
Mr Nathan also told the AP that any hearing would be given a "clear" message that the firm opposed the reccomendation.
Ms Ho, according to the news agency, has said any reply to the report would be left to MGM Mirage.
Ultimately any binding ruling against MGM could mean it has to choose between walking away from Macau or giving up on its investment in Altantic City, New Jersey, where it owns 50 per cent of the Borgata Hotel Casino & Spa.
Ms Ho has been given the green light before in other parts of America, with officials in Nevada passing her to be associated with US casino operators in 2007, AP added. This follows hearings in which she said she operates separately from her father, who is one of Macau's most famous gaming entrepeneurs.
Mr Ho held a monopoly over casinos in Macau for around 40 years until the island was returned to Chinese rule.
He now faces competition from American firms and the partnership with MGM run by his daughter, among others, although his SJM Holdings firm still has a leading 30 per cent slice of gaming locally.
Quoted by AP, Stanley Ho said at a recent gaming conference: "The fact that SJM is listed on a major stock market has provided a new level of transparency of gaming in Macau and helped to clear up the misconceptions about the industry that some people had in the past."
