Pansy Ho stressed that MGM Mirage is still considering its options to challenge the New Jersey gaming regulators’ assessment that she was an unsuitable partner for the US gaming giant in Macau due to her father Stanley Ho’s alleged links with organised crime.

Macau posted record revenues for October 2009. With commission caps coming into effect and talk of gaming table caps along with changes in gambling debt taxation, Macau seems to be positioning itself ahead of the opening of resort casinos in Singapore.

MGM’s Macau joint venture partner Pansy Ho is currently under investigation by the New Jersey Division of Gaming Enforcement and with some issues likely to warrant a public hearing, MGM may be yet forced to make tough choices.

With scant information forthcoming on the state of Stanley Ho’s health Macau’s rumour mill has begun to fill in the gaps, turning its attention to those best placed to take over – eventually – at the gaming magnate’s Sociedade de Jogos de Macau (SJM).

In a bold move which places a deep faith in the long term growth of the global gaming industry, the Packer empire, which has traditionally invested in publishing and broadcasting, is shifting its focus to gambling ventures through its new Crown gaming company.

The opening on Monday evening of Melco Crown’s US$2bn City of Dreams project was heralded as the start of a new era of development for Macau’s casino sector by chief executive Lawrence Ho, but doubts continue to cloud the future of the enclave’s Cotai Strip.

At the company’s AGM yesterday, Crown Ltd chairman James Packer insisted Crown’s diverse range of casino operations would leave the company better placed to withstand the current economic malaise, which, he suggested, would likely hit Las Vegas harder than Crown’s core Australasian markets.

Shares in James Packer’s Crown Ltd have been up in the first week of trading since the Australian Federal Court approved the demerger of Packer’s now-defunct PBL into separate gaming and media entities.

James Packer’s Crown Ltd has scrapped plans to construct a flagship Crown casino on the Las Vegas Strip. Crown is citing the general economic slowdown for the decision to abandon the move into the Nevada market, in a further sign of how the credit crunch is beginning to make an impact in Vegas.

James Packer’s Crown Ltd yesterday denied media reports the Australian gaming company is set to invest $1.5bn to construct a resort casino in the Pagcor City entertainment complex in Manila Bay. The announcement comes against a background of analyst warnings that funding investment in emerging Asian gaming jurisdictions may prove problematic.