The battle for casino supremacy in Macau has moved to a new frontier.
An underwater casino hall with a capacity of 450 gaming tables and 3,000 slot machines will open in mid-2008, one of its developers, Melco International Development Ltd., said in a statement Monday.
The casino "will be surrounded by water and marine life," said Melco Group Managing Director Lawrence Ho.
The HK$8 billion ($1 billion) resort will also house deluxe apartment blocks, 2,000 hotel rooms, a shopping mall and a 4,000-seat performance hall.
The resort will be located on Macau's Cotai strip, which developers hope to fashion as Macau's answer to the Las Vegas Strip, the statement said.
Macau is expected to surpass Las Vegas as the world's biggest gambling market in 2005, with the territory's casinos projected to bring in more than $5 billion in gambling revenue as newly affluent mainland Chinese flood to Macau to gamble.
By: N. Peter Kramer
