Melco PBL offers 3,800 jobs for luxury casino hotel Crown Macau
The Associated Press
Published: November 10, 2006
MACAU: Melco PBL Entertainment, the joint venture between Australian gaming and media company Publishing & Broadcasting Ltd. and Hong Kong-based Melco International Development Ltd., said Friday it's hiring 3,800 people for its first gaming project in Macau.
The six-star casino hotel Crown Macau, due to open April 2007, targets high-rollers with its 216 luxury rooms and a casino that offers 220 gaming tables and more than 500 slot machines.
The project is recruiting two-thirds of its staff — or 2,500 people — from the tiny Chinese territory, hotel chief executive Greg Hawkins said at a press conference.
Crown Macau will be the first extension of PBL's Crown brand into Asia. PBL, one of Australia's largest entertainment groups, owns and operates the Crown casino in Melbourne and Burswood casino in Perth.
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"It's fantastic for me to see our first venture in Asia taking shape so quickly. We know this is a product that is going to stand out from the crowd," said PBL executive chairman James Packer.
Crown Macau and other newcomers to Macau aim to transform the territory into a multi-day destination like Las Vegas, but many doubt whether the Chinese gambler, notorious for being solely focused on gambling, will be willing to spend as much money on luxury accomodation, shows and meals.
Lawrence Ho, Melco's group managing director, acknowledged that gaming revenue will be the main driver of profit for Crown Macau when it opens.
"The hotel and the restaurants are there pretty much to support the gaming business for this resort," he said.
Melco PBL's second Macau project, the City of Dreams mega-resort, is slated to open in mid-2008. Featuring 2,000 hotel rooms and an underwater-themed casino, the flagship project is being built on reclaimed land at Macau's Cotai strip and will target more mass-market gamblers.
Ho also said Friday that Melco PBL is near closing a deal to acquire a site in downtown Macau for its third casino project, but he didn't provide details.
"We have had some preliminary discussion with the government in terms of what we're going to do and the work plans that will go in, but at this point in time it's still a working progress," he said.
Melco PBL also operates a chain of six slot-machine parlors in Macau and is building a seventh.
Melco is run by Lawrence Ho, son of Macau casino kingpin Stanley Ho, who lost his gaming monopoly in 2002. Las Vegas casino moguls have entered the market since, with Sheldon Adelson opening the Sands Macau in 2004 and Wynn opening Wynn Macau in September. |
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