Gambling the Glue for Portuguese Enclave : Chinese Chase Lady Luck to Tiny Macao

Thousands of Hong Kong Chinese daily crowd onto jet foils and ferries for the 40-mile trip across the South China Sea to this tiny Portuguese enclave dangling from mainland China.

They come to gamble.

“Gambling is the glue that holds Macao together,” said Stanley Ho during an interview in his 39th floor penthouse suite in Hong Kong.

Ho knows. His firm, Sociedade de Turismo E Diversoes de Macao (Macao Tourism and Amusement Co. Limited) has had a monopoly on gambling in Macao for the last 26 years. It owns and operates the five casinos in Macao, the largest gambling complex in all of Asia.

“Casino taxes traditionally have kept the government in business,” said Ho, 67. “Last year, for example, 40% of the revenues to run the Macao government--800 million patacas ($100 million U.S.) came from gambling.”

Returning to Chinese

Last year, the People’s Republic of China and the Republic of Portugal announced that China will resume sovereignty over Macao on Dec. 20, 1999, two years after China takes over Hong Kong.

But Ho, a native of Hong Kong and a British citizen of Chinese-English extraction, does not seem worried that the Communists will conquer his gaming empire.

“The Chinese government has assured us that although gambling is against the law in China, it will continue to be permitted in Macao for at least 50 years after 1999,” Ho said.

“China has steadfastly maintained that it will continue the status quo in Hong Kong and Macao. China has spelled out clearly: one country, two systems for both territories.”

Ho believes, as do many here, that China cannot afford to change Hong Kong and Macao, that both will function as they do today, and that includes gambling.

Narrow Peninsula

Macao, a narrow peninsula jutting from the mouth of the Pearl River in Guangdong Province, covers 6 square miles, including two small islands--Taipa, connected to the peninsula by a 1 1/2-mile-long bridge, and Coloane, connected to Taipa by a short causeway.

This oldest European settlement on the South China coast, it has a population of 450,000; 97% are Chinese, most of the rest are Portuguese.

“Gambling has been an important part of Macao’s lifeblood ever since the 1850s,” Ho said. “The key to the success of gambling in Macao is prosperity and the lack of casino-type gambling in Hong Kong--and the fact that Chinese love to gamble.”

Ho, a millionaire several times over, has extensive real estate holdings in Macao and Hong Kong. His Shun Tak Enterprises Corp. provides most of the transportation to Macao. Shun Tak runs a fleet of 13 Boeing jet foils and four ferry boats transporting gamblers and others from Hong Kong to Macao. There is no airport at Macao.

Massive Holdings

Lisboa Hotel and Casino is the largest gaming resort, an 800-room hotel and a three-floor circular casino building with a floor set aside for nonsmokers. The other gaming places are a floating casino called the Palace, Casino Kam Pek, the Jai Alai and the Oriental. The casinos employ 2,500 Macao residents.

Baccarat, which Chinese consider the fairest game, accounts for 65% of the gambling take. Other popular games include fan-tan, blackjack, roulette and slot machines. There is only one crap table in all of Macao. Four million gamblers patronized the casinos last year, with the government reaping a quarter of the gross.

Ho talked of plans to build an airport at Macao financed by his company along with Portuguese and Macao funds. “Only a small percentage of visitors to Hong Kong from abroad come to Macao,” he said. “We want to change this with direct flights to Macao from all over the world.

“It will be both an international airport and a domestic airport for mainland China. China does not have an airport in this area, and the Chinese government has promised not to build one if one is erected in Macao. A decision will be made on that matter within the next couple of months.”

Although many mainland Chinese are permitted to visit Macao on one-day visas, they are not supposed to gamble. But they obviously do: One man from the north won a 2-million pataca ($250,000 U.S.) lottery earlier this year.

“He took the money,” said casino spokesman Jay Xavier, 32. “He didn’t reveal what he planned to do with it.”