Inside Asian Gaming

IAG JAPAN FEB 2021 26 LVS appealed Nevada jury awards to Suen of US$44 million in 2008 and US$70 million in 2013. The parties settled on undisclosed terms after one day of testimony in a third trial in March 2019. Suen helped LVS meet Beijing leadership in July 2001, and Adelson was shocked by assurances from Vice Premier Qian Qichen that China would allow more mainlanders to visit Macau. In response, LVS told China it had flexed its Washington muscle to stop a Congressional resolution against Beijing’s 2008 Olympic bid, though in fact the legislative calendar, not LVS, scuttled the vote. Then a combination of bad luck and bad judgment nearly scuttled Adelson’s Macau dream. Returning fromBeijing, Adelson showed symptoms of peripheral neuropathy, a neuromuscular disorder that made it difficult for him to stand and walk. Treatment left him incapable of working effectively – “a little coo-coo,” he said – for six months, including the late 2001 Macau gaming license tender period. LVS then-President and COO WilliamWeidner took the lead on Macau. The September 11, 2001 attacks on the US devastated Las Vegas revenue. So LVS needed a finance partner to post Macau’s required US$500 million guarantee. It chose Taiwan’s China Development Bank, finance arm of the Kuomintang party, Beijing’s avowed foe – which some saw as a stunning blunder. SHOTGUN MARRIAGE The Macau government’s Tender Commission reviewing casino concession applicants liked the LVS proposal for a temporary casino and a new Venetian with its convention model, but rejected its Taiwan partner. So Macau elders brokered a partnership between LVS and Hong Kong property magnate Lui Sheldon and Miriam Adelson at the 2007 launch of The Venetian Macao. 2007年、ザ・ベネチアン・マカオのローンチにいたシェルドンとミリアム・アデルソン夫婦 COVER STORY