Online casino a quiet punt for Stanley Ho

An online casino based around the world of Macau gambling mogul Stanley Ho Hung-sun has opened for business - but the man who runs it says it will not be promoted in the SAR for fear of falling foul of gambling laws.

Despite the lack of a high-profile launch, the chief executive officer of the glitzy Antigua-registered DrHo.com Web site, Peter Kjaer, said the real-time gambling site had 'many, many' hits from the territory and across Asia in its first week.

Home Affairs Bureau chiefs have admitted there is little they can do to stop SAR punters clicking on to the site, on which gamblers can lay bets on roulette, and be dealt cards by 'cyber-croupiers' for blackjack, baccarat and Caribbean poker.

Billed as 'a truly global entertainment experience', the English language-only site sneaked online a week ago with an opening page featuring a photograph of Stanley Ho sitting on a red luxury limousine.

It offers a mixture of gambling, celebrity gossip, astrology and scantily clad girls, plus a James Bond-like biography of Mr Ho, who is described as a 'legend in his own lifetime' and shown in pictures with US presidents and British royalty.

The site also invites visitors to take 'a peek behind the scenes as our beautiful croupiers prepare for a day on the job at DrHo.com', with photographs of young women getting dressed up for their job on the Web.