Macao could be a $45 billion-a-year market again, says Lawrence Ho, who calls himself extremely bullish on the enclave’s prospects. He’s not been snorting coke, according to Union Gaming Group analyst Grant Govertsen, who calls it “achievable target for Macao … That type of growth would imply around 10% average annual growth, which feels realistic at this point. The good news for Macao is that the government has anointed mass market as the future of Macao, and we would expect at least some level of support going forward to ensure mass continues to be the direction Macao is headed.” Accordingly, Melco Crown Entertainment shares have moonshot 41% this year alone.
Ho fils was a little more in his projections for Japan, which he sees as a $20 million/year market. As for his much quoted “whatever it takes” bid for a Japanese casino, Ho elaborated slightly, saying “We don’t want to put a dollar figure on it because ultimately, the opportunity is priceless.” In other words, he’s keeping his competitors guessing.
* Gun Lake Casino is celebrating a $70 million, 500-slot expansion today but David Patchak is being a party pooper. His challenge to the Gun Lake Tribe’s land-in-trust status will soon be heard by the U.S. Supreme Court, where Justice Neil Gorsuch‘s experience with tribal issues will be put to the test sooner than expected. Patchak has long held that the casino would diminish the value of his property, and raise crime and pollution levels in Grand Rapids, Michigan. To that end, he is challenging the Gun Lake Trust Land Reaffirmation Act, a piece of Obama-administration legislation that decreed in favor of the Gun Lake Tribe. As far as Patchak was concerned, this violated the constitutional separation of powers by short-circuiting court challenges. (He seems to have a point there.)
While Michigan State University law professor Matthew Fletcher said jurisdiction-stripping “ratchets up and down federal court jurisdictions quite frequently,” he added that “It’s rare for Congress to intervene in any particular case.” As for Patchak’s lofty principles, they would seem to come with a price tag. “A monetary settlement is exactly what he’s looking for,” said his attorney.
If Patchak prevails before the Supremes the tribe won’t have to abandon its casino but it would be demoted to Class II status — nothing but electronic bingo. Out would go those nice, new table games the tribe just installed. There’s a bit of cloak and dagger to this affair, since Patchak is able to pursue the case via funding from anonymous donors. Methinks I detect the fine hand of rival casinos behind the plaintiff.
