|
||||||||
  |
||||||||
|
||||||||
|
||||||||
|
||||||||
|
||||||||
|
|
|||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
PBL keeps watching brief on Japan
By Geoff Hiscock
SYDNEY, Australia (CNN) -- Australian media and entertainment group Publishing & Broadcasting Ltd. (PBL) has downplayed suggestions it is interested in opening casinos in Japan. PBL, controlled by Australia's richest man Kerry Packer, owns the Melbourne Crown Casino, which is the country's biggest and most profitable gambling complex. A PBL spokeswoman told CNN on Thursday that while Japan is a "market of interest" for the company, there were no specific plans involving Japan on its horizon. That follows a report in the Nihon Keizai Shimbun quoting PBL chief executive Peter Yates as saying PBL planned to build casinos in cities such as Tokyo and Osaka, in partnership with Japanese companies, if Japan lifted its current ban on casinos. The newspaper said the Tokyo metropolitan government and other local governments were starting to look at the possibility of legalizing the casino business in a bid to increase tax revenues. 'Always interested'The PBL spokeswoman said PBL had always shown an interest in the Asia Pacific region and it maintained a "watching brief" on Japan. "If opportunities become available there, then we would certainly look at it," she told CNN. PBL shares are trading 1.42 percent lower at A$8.33 in Sydney on Thursday afternoon. The broader market, measured by the S&P/ASX200, is up 0.25 percent to 2977.0. Although casinos are banned in Japan, there is intense interest in betting on horse racing and other sports, including cycling and speedboat racing. As well, Japanese can win "skill" prizes at pachinko (slot-machine) parlors, which are popular throughout the country. Some of Japan's biggest pachinko businesses already have interests in international gambling. Kazuo Okada, founder of the Japanese pachinko and pachslot maker Aruze Corp., is partnering Las Vegas casino identity Steve Wynn in setting up a new gambling operation in Macau. Wynn's group won one of three new gaming licenses awarded by Macau in February, ending the 40-year monopoly held there by Hong Kong casino mogul Stanley Ho.
|
|
|||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
|
||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
|
||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
