Stanley Ho Hung-sun's gaming enterprise, Sociedade de Jogos de Macau, announced last week that it had lost market share to new rivals last year. Further, its overall revenue fell by 2.3 per cent on the year. The game, as they say, is clearly on.
Indeed, over the next six to 18 months, it will be fascinating to see how the once-sleepy enclave's main players battle it out for the hearts, minds and wallets of the biggest gambling nation in the world. But anyone who thinks that this is a spectacle Hong Kong can simply watch from afar is deluded.
Sheldon Adelson, at least, will be smiling. The boss of Venetian Macau, who opened the Sands Casino in early 2004, saw his group's revenue double last year, to 7.71 billion patacas. That already gives it a 17-per-cent share of the market, and its flagship resort and casino complex in the Cotai Strip is still at least half a year away from opening. The Galaxy Group also gained ground last year, pulling in 3.99 billion patacas (it was open for only six months in 2004). And yes, it, too, is building in the Cotai Strip.
In fact, it's hard to say who is not building in the Cotai Strip. Other hotels with plans on the drawing board include the St Regis and Sheraton from the Starwood Group, the Hyatt, and Shangri-La (with two hotels). The next complex to open in the city will be within striking distance of Mr Ho's flagship, the Lisboa: Steve Wynn's eponymous casino and resort, due to open in the third quarter. Of course, nobody should be counting out Mr Ho and his successors yet. The Grand Lisboa, rising alongside the old landmark, promises to outshine them all - literally. The casino will be inside a dome covered in liquid crystal display screens; the hotel is designed in the shape of a Vegas showgirl's hat. A few blocks down the road, his daughter, Pansy Ho Chiu-king, is in a joint venture to build the MGM Mirage, while across the bay, his son, Lawrence Ho Yau-lung, is putting up the Crown Macau with Australia's biggest gaming operator.
There are fears that, even if punters fill the tables within the next 18 months, they may not need all 20,000 new rooms that will open by then - nearly doubling existing capacity. Just imagine what all that five-star capacity is likely to do to Hong Kong's exorbitantly priced market, just a 55-minute jetfoil ride away. It is not only those responsible for $3,000-plus room rates who could soon be whistling in the graveyard. It is their human resources managers, too.
Already, Filipinos are having to be brought in. But even they can only do so much against the onslaught of Putonghua-speaking customers. Hongkongers, Singaporeans, and Taiwanese are already in hot demand throughout the Pearl River Delta, where dozens of new hotels will open at about the same time as Macau's.