It even has a link on its website to photos and information about MGM casinos.

But MGM Mirage has cried foul, alleging that the company is an imposter. And it filed a lawsuit this week with nine counterfeit-related charges against six Chinese individuals, including one who lives in Guangzhou, considered to be involved with the outfit.

MGM Mirage said in the lawsuit that BetMGM has copied its style and branding in an attempt to lure online users to the website.

While the layout of BetMGM's website may look like a carbon copy of the MGM brand, Lai See hopes that most people would be able to identify several red flags that suggest that something is amiss.

For instance, the website says the MGM Grand in Las Vegas is located at the corner of Las Vegas Avenue and Tropical Road, but it is actually situated at Las Vegas Boulevard and Tropicana Avenue.

It also offered bets for every sport from 'athletics to volleyball'. And it misspelled the casino in one sub-section as 'MGM Gramd'.

But the discrepancies extend beyond just typos. BetMGM said on its website that it had a gambling licence issued by the Australian government. The MGM Mirage consortium, however, is based in the United States.

The contact details listed for BetMGM were mostly instant messaging or online phone handles as well as listings for Hong Kong, mainland, and US numbers.

Lai See reached the company and asked for a formal response to the lawsuit allegations, but they did not call us back. Perhaps like any professional gambler, they know when to fold a bad hand.

Rusal mops up before IPO

Aluminium producer Rusal may be set to make a splash in the Hong Kong listing market next week, but not before it has finished dotting its i's and crossing its t's.

The giant Russian firm issued a clarification announcement on Thursday evening about some typos in its initial public offering prospectus.

It said that the word 'million' was omitted on one page, three directors were actually a year older than previously listed, and there were clerical errors in sections about market share and directors' compensation.

Rusal said that it actually controlled 11 per cent of the global production of aluminium in 2008, not 12 per cent as originally stated in its 1,141-page listing document released last month. The revised figure still put it ahead of Rio Tinto and Alcoa, however, which each contributed 10 per cent of global production, according to the announcement.

It also said that its directors had received US$15.3 million in 2008, US$1.2 million more than previously stated.

But altogether, the misprints seemed minor when compared with some of the bold headlines that Rusal has generated throughout the listing process - not to mention the unusual health warning that was inserted into its prospectus.

Vitar shines amid the gloom

Investors must have breathed a collective sigh of relief after the stock market shut its doors yesterday.

The Hang Seng Index was in the red from start to finish, tumbling for the eighth session in the past nine to settle at its lowest level in three months. And on top of everything, the market had to contend with a glitch in the benchmark's calculation system during the morning session.

Three weeks into the new year, the Hang Seng Index is already down 5.2 per cent. It is on pace for its first monthly decline since last August and its worst month in a year.

But traditional wisdom suggests that there is always a diamond in the rough. And shareholders of Vitar International Holdings, an insulation manufacturer, would no doubt agree.

The company has rattled off advances in nine straight trading sessions and was the best-performing stock yesterday in Hong Kong. It has more than doubled in trading so far this year.

Dr Doom glum on China

Our quote of the week comes from right here in Hong Kong, where policymakers gathered for the Asian Financial Forum and chimed in on the global economic recovery.

The much-feted economist Nouriel Roubini said that despite the Chinese economy's rapid improvement last year, it still has a long way to go before it can rely on domestic consumption for sustainable growth.

'[It's] going to take a concerted policy change that will be radical and unlikely to occur fast enough,' he said, according to MarketWatch. '[And] China cannot be the only engine of global growth.'

Leave it to Roubini, who carries the moniker Dr Doom for his dour predictions, to avoid any sugar-coating!