Asian casino news was expected to be dominated by the opening of Macau and Venetian Macau resorts, but James Packer’s publishing and broadcasting and joint venture partner Melco International Development made the biggest headlines as global credit pressures began.

Packer’s Macau casino plan is certainly being hampered by high borrowing costs. Melco International Development, a joint venture partner with Publishing and Broadcasting, says it has borrowed $1 billion ($1.2 billion) less than planned to build and develop a dream city casino and entertainment resort in Macau. This funding will be enough to build nearly all casinos, 85,000 square feet of retail space, and the 366-room Hard Rock and Kotai Crown Towers hotels. It could also build the Grand Hyatt Macau Twin Towers Hotel and the 1,700-seat Dream Theater. MPEL will need more funding in its plan to build a $353 million apartment-hotel complex in the dream city by 2009.

If it looks like bad news for MPEL, it doesn’t seem to have affected the stock price, closing at HK$13.26 on Friday, September 7, up 40% less than a month after hitting a low of $8.98.

With its timely opening of 3,000 hotel rooms, theaters, and sports venues, Venetian has become the world’s second-largest building by floor space. If Venetian succeeds, it will help Macau’s annual gaming revenue double to $13.7 billion by 2010, according to analysts.

Elsewhere in Asia, the Taiwanese government plans to issue three casino permits. Under the proposal, the maximum charter period has been set at 20 years, with businesses having to pay a fee equal to 40% of their profits. The stakes foreign investors investing in these ventures will be capped at 60%.

Another Asian country that is considering a casino-related bill is Japan, and American Steve Wynn can ask his longtime friend Kazuo Okada for help. Wynn asked Kazuo Okada for help in 2000 when the gambling mogul needed cash to fund a Las Vegas casino named after him. Now Okada can be the ace to roll up Wynn’s sleeves in the domestic market for a Japanese businessman. 안전한 파워볼사이트 Wynn, Las Vegas Sands, and Australia’s Publishing and Broadcasting are pushing to open their casinos in Japan. The government is considering a bill that could be approved within the next 12 months.

On the other side of Asia’s Goa, tourism, religion, agriculture, fishing, the “Casino King of Nepal” in the U.S., and a 13-meter-long casino boat have been in the news regularly over the past month. The problem is that 500 fishermen and about 5,000 dependents can have their livelihoods destroyed by the river dredging needed for a 13-meter-long casino boat. How many tables, machines, customers, and employees can a 13-meter-long casino boat be carried? The only vessel currently in service is the MV Carabella, which is 215 feet (65.5 m) long and can accommodate 300 people. There are 11 table games.

In addition to the offshore casino concept, Goa also has legislation to support the opening of casinos in five-star hotels where 11 five-star hotels operate casinos under Goa mitigation.