Asia News - Page 82

International News Brief: Former Taiwanese gambling arcade tycoon Chou Jen-sen has finished serving jail time for running a network of illegal video-gambling parlors and paying off huge numbers of police and prosecutors to allow him to stay in business.

International News Brief: The blockbuster budget for the Venetian Macau casino resort in Cotai has climbed to $2 billion and could go higher as owner Sheldon Adelson announced he is seeking additional land for expansion.

International News Brief: China’s casinos and junket agents will be required to track the identity of gamblers making cash transactions of more than HK$500,000, according to a draft bill to be presented to the legislature after next month's election.

A selection of news and views from inside the industry this week.

International News Brief: Four high-ranking officials were caught red-handed gambling at midnight on July 21 at the Dak Bla Hotel in the central highland province of Kon Tum.

Plans for investing $3.5 billion in two Singapore casino projects have Wall Streeters shaking their heads.

In recent years, the Chinese enclave of Macau has increasingly assumed a Las Vegaslike atmosphere as Strip-inspired casinos take shape along the Pearl River Delta.

International News Brief: Malaysian police believe they have crippled a gambling syndicate with the arrests of two local men high on the police wanted list on Thursday.

International News Brief: Jakarta police chief Inspector Gen. Firman Gani on Wednesday defended the police's failure to eradicate gambling here, arguing that a weak legal system had prevented city police from arresting suspected gambling bosses.

International News Brief: Macau's income from direct gaming tax reached 8.15 billion patacas in the first half of the year, a year-on-year increase of 24.9 per cent.

International News Brief: Indonesia’s National Police vice officers were forced to concede that they had not fared very well in the recent push against gambling, as they had only arrested a few small fries, while the big sharks were still free.

International News Brief: Singapore police smashed an illegal gambling syndicate after they arrested 13 people in an island-wide operation.

International News Brief: Media reports show that there are at least 10 other Malaysian high rollers, who owe casinos in Britain and Australia between RM250,000 and millions of ringgit.

Due to overwhelming demand from exhibitors and participants at this year’s Asian Gaming Expo, organisers have announced they will return to Macau to host the event again in June 2006.

International News Brief: Shareholders of K. Wah Construction Materials and its parent company, K. Wah International Holdings, approved plans Tuesday to buy Galaxy Casino in Macao with shares and other securities, in a deal valued at 18.4 billion Hong Kong dollars.

International News Brief: Observers are calling on the police to start arresting big-time gamblers and raid suspected big gambling dens in order to make the current anti-gambling drive a success.

A selection of news and views from inside the industry this week.

International News Brief: The Philippine National Police (PNP) here has claimed that it has succeeded in the campaign against any form of illegal gambling in the city’s 40 barangays.

International News Brief: The Korea National Tourism Organization has decided to cancel its provisional contract with Hanmoo Convention Co., an operator of the places which the KNTO will lease to run foreigners-only casinos.

International News Brief: Raids on Indonesian gambling dens have started in the capital, but the public at large complained Wednesday that police were only targeting small-time gamblers.