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Everybody in Macau knows David Chow Kam-fai as a casino kingpin, but outside his native Macau, for a variety of reasons, he keeps a low profile.

Yet the tourism destinations and facilities he has created speak volumes about the mastermind behind them.   Small in stature, he is a political and business heavyweight, an intensely competitive man who thinks bigger than most  Macau entrepreneurs.

'I am unfazed by the Americans,' said the 54-year-old chief executive officer of casino-hotel company Macau Landmark.  'Aren't the top marketing executives in Las Vegas all Chinese?

'Tell them to build their casinos faster and show us what they've got.'

Mr Chow's casino, the Egyptian-themed Pharaoh's Palace, is almost twice as lucrative as the Sands per table. The Sands in Macau makes about  $37,000 a day at each of its 350 tables, according to a Securities Exchange Commission filing. According to Mr Chow, his 60-table casino  makes $70,000 at each table.

'The monopoly ended, and I became the biggest beneficiary of liberalisation,' he said.

Mr Chow's Fisherman's Wharf, the first phase of which is  due to open by July,  will introduce Macau's first amusement park and first marina cove, not to mention  its first Roman amphitheatre and man-made volcano.

Despite his greying hair, he possesses boundless energy - playing the multiple roles of casino businessman, hotel developer, diplomat, politician and community leader. Anyone who meets the man could be forgiven for wondering whether it is a ruthless drive for profit and public recognition that motivates him, or whether it is  altruistic civic responsibility - as he claims. Perhaps it  is both.

'In my company, we know how to spend money,' he  has often said. 'As CEO of Landmark, I only receive a monthly salary of 35,000 patacas. If I do it well, I don't mind receiving a good bonus from the board of directors.'

And spend money he does. By investing 2.2 billion yuan into Beijing, Mr Chow is building not just any hotel in time for the 2008 Olympics, but a 'platinum five-star' hotel. This new category, defined in 2004 by the Chinese Ministry of Tourism, means luxuries offered include 24-hour butler service on executive floors.

Mr Chow has had his share of caustic critics, who portray him either as a mummy's boy or a debt-ridden gambler. His mother, Lam Fung-ngo, has built an empire of VIP gaming clubs founded in the 1970s.

In March, 2004, David Chow was censured by the Hong Kong Court of Appeal for refusing to pay a debt of US$5 million, incurred in 1995 during a gambling  session at the Desert Inn in Las Vegas. At the time, the judge also upheld an arrest warrant dating from November, 2001, that orders Mr Chow to be taken into custody if he enters Hong Kong, so that his assets could be seized to repay the debt.

Mr Chow declined to pay anything beyond a partial payment of US$232,000 in 1996, the court heard last year. In January, 2000, a marketing company representing Desert Inn  presented bankruptcy proceedings to push Mr Chow to pay the debt, but he responded only with affidavits. Last March, Mr Chow missed his bankruptcy hearing in Hong Kong.

Mr Chow would not comment on the years  he spent in the  US, or on his past in general.  'I have endured too much insult already,' he said.

The latest vision of the casino boss is to share his success with Macau residents. By  April, he hopes to sell 20 per cent of  Macau Landmark in a pre-initial public offering (IPO) process.  Macau identification card holders will be given priority  for the shares.

The goal is  for the company to be listed, in either Europe or Singapore, by February next year.  'I think people generally speculate less and invest more rationally in the stock markets of Europe and Singapore,' he  said.

Instead of going public a few months ago, when all Macau concept stocks soared in markets around the world, Mr Chow said he chose to wait and consolidate his business.

'By early next year, the company would have amassed three years of operating experience - our proven success will be there for all to see,' he said.  With the pre-IPO issuing of shares, because the company is not yet listed  shareholders do not have a secondary market in which to sell their shares. But they will receive interest. Mr Chow anticipates 10-15 per cent  on Landmark shares every year.

Apart from the Pharaoh's Palace, the company owns  the five-star, 22-storey Landmark hotel,   and manages the adjacent three-star Emperor Hotel. Currently, the firm is 65 per cent owned by David Chow and his family,  with the remaining 35 per cent owned by tycoon Stanley Ho Hung-sun.

'If there is strong interest among Macau residents in purchasing the shares, we might consider selling 40 per cent of the company,' he said. 'But each individual will only be allowed to hold less than a 5 per cent stake  in the company.'

Already, accountants are auditing the company's finances in preparation  for the share issue. An information session  will be held for prospective shareholders  in the spring, Mr Chow said.

In the past, many of Macau's biggest companies have chosen not to go public, prompting some observers to conclude  they are avoiding transparency. Mr Chow aims to prove that is not so.  'If we smoothly get listed, I wouldn't mind announcing earnings every month,' he said. 'And any shareholder with questions is welcome to come directly and ask me.'

Like investors around the world, Mr Chow has strong faith in  the future of Macau's tourist industry. But he is  one of the few outspoken investors who has no hesitation in acknowledging the real backbone of Macau's economy - 80 per cent of gaming revenues still come from VIP gamblers.

He predicted high rollers would continue to be the bread and butter of Macau's gaming market. 'Without the VIPs, where is all the money coming from?' he asked. 'We need to stick to our base. I am going to continue developing the VIP market, and re-invest the money I make to improve the tourism infrastructure of Macau.'

Mr Chow dismissed concerns that Macau's robust casino growth would be shaken by the Politburo's recent efforts to tighten controls over cadres' gambling outside the mainland.

'I have never done business with a corrupt mainland official,' he  said. 'The world is so big, the gaming industry is so big. If your casino targets only a handful of corrupt mainland officials as the main source of customers, then you'd better not open your casino.'

Running casinos and hotels is  just one slice of  Mr Chow's daily activities. With numerous job titles,  he is a classic example of a Macau local baron.

He is best known for his successful junket operation, the Legend Club, which has cultivated a network of loyal mainland VIP gamblers. In Mr Chow's words: 'They are more fastidious than you can ever imagine, more demanding than any guest at a regular five-star hotel.'

Although the popular image of junket operators suggests a shady demimonde, Mr Chow possesses every credential of an upright citizen. He has been a directly elected legislator since 2001, and  so was able to help shape, and vote on, several important pieces of gaming-related legislation.

These  have included a legal framework for casinos to grant credit to VIP gamblers, and laws that require junket operators to obtain a government licence.

Since July, 2001, Mr Chow has also served as honorary consul of Cape Verde, a West African island formerly ruled by Portugal. The appointment, just two months before his election  to the Macau assembly, helped boost his political profile.

Straddling the worlds of business, politics and social services - and in Macau these are small, intertwined circles - Mr Chow also heads one of Macau's largest associations, the  Association for  the Promotion of Development of Macau.  Claiming 18,000 members,  it was founded in 1996 by David Chow  and has the largest membership of the  island's estimated 2,500 associations, representing a diversity of interests.

'I probably won't run again in this year's elections,' he  said with a frown (Macau's second legislative assembly elections since the handover will be held in September).  'If I run, I will surely win. But the sessions are just too  boring.'

So boring, in fact, that at  one three-hour legislative assembly  meeting last month  Mr Chow  spent half the  session taking a smoking break outside the  auditorium.

Joining  him on the plush sofas next to the snack kiosk were fellow legislators Vitor  Cheung Lup-kwan, owner of the Marina Infante casino-hotel in Taipa,  and Fong Chi-keong,  head of Macau's major construction firm, Man Kan, and operator of several VIP rooms. But for those  unfamiliar with the legislative assembly,  this might easily have been mistaken  for a separate gaming meeting. Such is public life in Macau.



Little big man