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SCMP Reporter

SOMEONE put a spanner in the roulette wheel.

  Macau's sumptuous new Westin Resort has started taking guests, but the Government has gone cold on the casino promised in the glossy brochures going out to potential customers in Hongkong, Japan and Taiwan.

  ''For those who wish to take a chance with Lady Luck, there is direct access to Macau's newest and most exclusive casino,'' boasts the six-star complex commanding a panoramic view of Coloane Island's Hac Sa Beach from each of its 208 terraced rooms and suites.

  ''We've got enough casinos,'' Mr Stanley Ho, whose company owns and operates the existing gambling houses, said yesterday.

  ''The Government has said it is not keen on having another at the Westin, and we go along with that,'' he said, even though his company is deeply involved in the costly venture with the Japanese Aoki Corporation.

  Instead of direct access to the gaming tables, Westin's guests will have to take a 15-minute ride to Mr Ho's famous Lisboa Casino, albeit aboard a stretch limousine fitted with all mod cons.

  And while the management of the Westin struggled with the apparently embarrassing hitch in their plans, Mr Ho proudly officiated at the inauguration of Macau's own golf course, the other integral part of the Westin Resort concept.

  The clubhouse sits atop the resort complex, and an 18-hole course winds 6,000 metres around the peninsula.

  Seven storeys below yesterday's function, window cleaners were removing the last smudges from the lavish plate glass entrance to the would-be casino.

  There are two grand driveways, one draws up to the hotel, the other to a huge marble and carpet lobby, complete with pond and winding polished staircase . . . an arrow on a lonely wooden hall stand points left to ''Casino''.

  Up the stairs, behind firmly locked heavy panel doors, is a complete wing of the resort, for which money appears to have been no object.

  Mr Ho admits to having pumped $600 million into his lifetime ambition of giving Macau its own golf course.

  He said that for a long time Macau had been likened to Monaco; ''We both have Grand Prix and casinos.''   After 13 years of effort, and with the help of prominent businessmen such as Mr Hari Harilela, the completion of the course had ensured that the enclave had moved into a higher league, he said.

  He said that he was confident Macau's airport would be completed on time in 1995, contrary to some recent suggestions that it would miss the scheduled opening.

  And with the arrival of aircraft direct, his personal dream that Macau would be a tourist destination in its own right, creating a self-contained economy, would become a reality, he said.

  Secretary for Tourism Dr Salavessa da Costa said the venture, which had drawn strong overseas investment to provide a top-class facility, would undoubtedly contribute to achieving these objectives.

  Mr Ho said that even though most people thought ''Stanley Ho only invests to make money'', he was resigned to the fact that he would not recoup his investment in the country club project until well after 1999, when sovereignty reverts to China.

  The exclusive club for only 1,000 members is a joint venture between a consortium headed by Mr Ho's Shun Tak Holdings and the Aoki Corporation.

  It will be managed for the next 10 years by the dynamic Club Corporation of Asia, the group which already runs the Tower Club in Kowloon and is developing and operating many other city and golf clubs around the region.

  On hand for the inauguration yesterday were individuals and representatives of companies who have snapped up 750 debentures for founder membership.

  The first batch went on sale to friends of the owners for $350,000, and by the last of seven stages were costing $735,000.

  Most of the remaining 250 charter memberships have already been released, but of the 1,000 total, only five per cent have been bought by Macau residents with Hongkong interests taking most of the rest.

  The course is closed to the public, but the Westin Resort is entitled to offer 10 per cent of the daily tee times to guests.

  The Governor, General Vasco Joaquim Rocha Vieira, took six practice swings - and three large divots - out of the first tee before driving the first ball a low curling 92 metres to open the course.

  ''I play, but I am definitely a 24 handicap,'' he said later, as members were allowed on to the layout for the first time.

        Course supervisor American Mr Barry Mueller has nine holes in play and expects the remainder - two of which have been formed on a huge area of reclaimed land - to be ready in the summer.

  ''It's pretty tough; narrow fairways, lots of big bunkers, water and some horrendous cliffs down to the sea,'' he said.

  The club has yet to appoint a manager and professional.



Macau turns down the tables at new resort