kevin sinclair's hong kong
Stroll into the spectacular gaming hall of The Sands casino in Macau. Even on a weekday afternoon, it's a tough job to fight your way to one of the 277 gaming tables through crowds of eager tourists placing sizeable bets. The enormous space is thronged.
The resulting flow of cash in the first year of operations will pay the entire US$265 million construction costs. The river of gold also pours a fortune into Macau government coffers. This access to almost limitless finance has not gone unnoticed. Even prim-and-proper Singapore is planning two casinos.
At the same time, Hong Kong's long-unquestioned income from taxes on horse race betting is threatened. It is falling because it is impossible to control illegal bookmakers and internet betting. As our income from gambling drops, Macau's spouts like a veritable fountain of diamonds. Hong Kong has got to have a casino. There is no alternative. We've got to act in self-protection.
For many years Hong Kong as a society looked down on Macau with mixed feelings of pity and contempt. Oh, we couldn't possibly do anything that might interfere with Little Brother's gaming income. And, anyway, gambling on anything but noble race horses was somehow beneath haughty Hong Kong.
Well, get real. Macau is booming. The skyline bristles with construction cranes. New resorts are going up that will make the world blink in astonishment. Some will offer 3,000 rooms, entertainment venues and convention facilities that will make Hong Kong look like Hicksville, China. It's all funded effortlessly by gambling income.
We've got no choice. We have to license at least one monster casino. And we've got to do it now. There's no time for the usual government dithering and consultations and calling for expressions of public interest and asking opinions of the same old chorus of do-good chatterers and academic know-it-alls. What we need is action. I pray that for once, the Tung administration gets it right.
To me, the way ahead seems obvious: let's do what Macau did, but add a strong dose of Hong Kong management. First, Mr Tung should announce as an urgent matter of policy that Hong Kong is going to license casinos. Then the government should launch another Disney-like deal calling for global expressions of interest and announce an open contest for bids and tenders to build and run a casino on a joint-venture basis with Hong Kong.