Harrah’s for Taiwan?

Speculation is at fever pitch that Harrah’s Entertainment will be a partner in a Taiwan casino resort.

It follows remarks by Ashley Hines, president of operations in Taiwan for London-listed AMZ Holdings—which has an 11-hectare parcel of land on the outlying Penghu Islands, one of the prime locations for a casino resort—that AMZ would seek to build up to 500 hotel rooms, at a cost of USD200 million, and link with ‘one of the world’s top five’ casino operators.

Among the top five by turnover, Las Vegas Sands Corp. and Wynn Resorts appear to have their hands full with projects in Macau and Las Vegas. MGM MIRAGE recently announced involvement in Vietnam’s Ho Tram Strip scheme to complement its 50 percent stake in MGM Grand Macau. Genting Berhad is busy preparing for the opening of its Resorts World at Sentosa project in Singapore and may also be a player in the Manila Bay project in the Philippines. That leaves Harrah’s as the obvious contender. Harrah’s didn’t just miss the boat in Macau but seemed not to think at the time that the boat was worth boarding. Currently its exposure to the Asian gaming market is a casino-free golf course on Cotai in Macau.

Added to that mix are the recent comments of Gary Loveman, chairman and chief executive of Harrah’s.

“Taiwan is potentially a terrific market. You have a lot of the same dynamics that you have in Macau: an enormous population both locally and regionally with a strong interest in gaming, and a limited amount of supply,” Mr Loveman was quoted as saying.

“No one knows what the tax rate would be and you can’t predict all those things in advance. But you certainly have the right starting conditions,” he added.

Inside Asian Gaming is acutely aware that when it comes to speculation on business projects adding two and two doesn’t always make four. We await developments with interest.