MGM filed its proposal for a license with the Maryland Video
Lottery Facility Location Commission to develop the resort on 20
acres of waterfront property in National Harbor in Prince
George’s County, just south of Washington, D.C.

Maryland voters in November passed a controversial measure
to expand gambling in the state, which enabled MGM to proceed
with its bidding. The measure, known as Maryland Question 7,
permitted bidding for a sixth casino license.

Penn National, which already operates a casino in the state,
opposed the expansion.

Maryland officials said the combined lobbying costs of
nearly $90 million was a record amount spent on any one
initiative.

MGM paid the majority of the $45.3 million spent by a
consortium including Peterson Development Cos LLC and local
unions that backed the measure, while Penn National spent about
$42 million in opposing it.

Penn National sought to protect its Rosecroft Raceway
facility in Fort Washington, Maryland, which is also in Prince
George’s county.

Penn bought the raceway for $10.25 million in a bankruptcy
auction in 2011 in hopes of revitalizing it as a casino. It said
on Thursday it will also file a proposal with the commission by
its deadline on Friday, but has low expectations of winning the
license.

Penn National operates the Hollywood Casino at Charles Town
Races in neighboring West Virginia, and the Hollywood Casino in
Perryville, Maryland.

“Though we intend to participate in the bidding process, we
believe another operator could be selected, and as a result our
financial results would be adversely impacted as it would create
additional competition for Hollywood Casino at Charles Town
Races and Hollywood Casino Perryville,” said Penn National in a
Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) 10Q filing on May 3.

The November measure set the stage for Maryland’s largest
gambling expansion since 2008, when voters approved a ballot
measure for slot machines at five locations.

MGM has said the National Harbor resort will create 2,000
construction jobs and up to 4,000 permanent jobs. If MGM wins
the bid, as is widely expected, the new casino would open in
2016.

“We are going to live up to our commitments,” Lorenzo
Creighton, president and COO of MGM’s MGM National Harbor
subsidiary, told Reuters, referring to its pledges to create
jobs and economic benefits to the region.

MGM has said the luxury casino resort would have about 200
table games and 4,000 slot machines, along with many restaurant
and entertainment options.

The 17-date tour is the veteran British rockers’ biggest in six years and follows a handful of dates in London, Paris and New York at the end of 2012 marking 50 years since they burst on to the music scene at London’s Marquee Club in 1962.

“We first played LA in 1965. Thank you for coming to see us. We really appreciate it,” frontman Mick Jagger said late on Friday during the show at Staples Center.

The 69-year-old strutted and gyrated in his trademark style through a string of classic Stones hits including “Gimme Shelter,” “Paint it Black” and “Jumpin’ Jack Flash.”

Celebrities like Jack Nicholson and Melanie Griffith attended the show, which also featured guest performances by singer Gwen Stefani on “Wild Horses” and Keith Urban on “Respectable.”

Days before the show, hundreds of seats were still available and secondary sellers scrambled to unload tickets by slashing prices from the original $250 to $600 price range which had irked many of even the most die-hard Stones fans.

The band also released additional seats at a modest $85 on its official website this week, the only price point that quickly sold out for the May 3 concert.

Buyers who opted to buy the $85 seats online were instructed to line up at the arena just before the show, and were told they would be notified of their locations which could range anywhere for prime seating to further back in the venue.

“It’s very thrilling. It’s like gambling and the Stones all rolled into one,” said Los Angeles realtor Kelley Miller, who had bought a pair of $85 seats along with some friends, and stood in line to find out where they would be sitting.

Miller and her friends said they were happy to be seated anywhere at that price.

SATISFACTION

Among the highlights of the evening were the show’s opening number “Satisfaction”, performed by the UCLA Marching Band and the Stones’ rendition of “You Can’t Always Get What You Want,” accompanied by the Cal State Long Beach Cole Conservatory choir.

The Rolling Stones last went on tour from 2005 to 2007, playing 144 shows globally and grossing more than $550 million, one of the world’s most lucrative tours.

Guitarist Mick Taylor, who played with the Stones from 1969 to 1974, sat in on Friday to join Jagger, guitarists Keith Richards and Ronnie Wood and drummer Charlie Watts during “Midnight Rambler.”

Later this summer, The Rolling Stones will play London’s Hyde Park, and for the first time in their career, the Glastonbury music festival in England, both of which sold out.

The band played a more reasonably priced $20 “surprise” gig in Los Angeles the previous weekend at the 320 person capacity Echoplex club.

But even fans who coughed up the $600 asking price for the Friday night show seemed to find satisfaction.

“I wasn’t one of the lucky ones who waited. I paid face value, about $620,” said Los Angeles-based financial adviser Jim Cain. “But I don’t have buyer’s remorse,” he added, grinning.

(Reporting By Susan Zeidler; editing by Mike Collett-White)

Three weeks after tickets went on sale, and a day before the British band take the stage on Friday, the Los Angeles Staples Center was far from sold out for the “50 and Counting” gig.

Secondary ticket sellers StubHub had more than 500 tickets available 24 hours before the May 3 show, Good Seat tickets said they were slashing re-sale prices by 40 percent, and Epic Nation rolled out a 10 percent discount code.

The veteran rock band announced on their official website this week that they were releasing an additional number of tickets at a modest $85, the only price point that quickly sold out for the May 3 concert.

According to the website, some of the $85 seats will be among the best seats in house in the “Tongue Pit,” with others spread around the arena. Buyers will be notified of their seat location on the day of the show.

Concert promoters AEG denied they were cutting prices, saying tickets once thought to have an obstructed view had come to light after the tongue and lip shaped stage was set up.

“Seeing (the stage) in this setting for the first time, we were able to determine that seats previously thought to have obstructed views were in fact unobstructed and could immediately be offered to fans for $85 each,” AEG said in a statement.

On Thursday, seats at prices ranging from $250 to $600 were still available, according to the AXS website operated by AEG, which owns the Staples Center arena that seats about 19,000 people.

BIGGEST STONES TOUR IN SIX YEARS

Friday’s show officially kicks off the band’s 17-date North American tour to mark their 50 years in the music business. It’s the biggest tour by the Stones in six years and follows a handful of dates in London, Paris and New York at the end of 2012.

Tickets for the London shows in November sold out swiftly despite complaints from fans over similarly high prices.

“Having a $600 price point for prime seats is definitely pushing the envelope,” said Gary Bongiovanni, editor-in-chief of Pollstar, a concert industry magazine.

He noted it was a particularly tough sell to core Rolling Stones fans who have seen the band many times.

“It’s easy for someone who has seen them to rationalize and say I’m not sure I want to skip my mortgage payment to see them again,” he told Reuters.

Nevertheless Bongiovanni expects sales to pick up with the lower prices. “I wouldn’t expect a lot of empty seats because they’re repricing tickets to whatever it takes,” he said.

The band played a more reasonably priced $20 “surprise” gig in Los Angeles last Saturday.

The Rolling Stones last went on the road from 2005 to 2007, playing 144 shows globally and grossing more than $550 million, one of the world’s most lucrative tours.

Guitarist Mick Taylor, who played with the Stones from 1969 to 1974, is joining frontman Mick Jagger, guitarists Keith Richards and Ronnie Wood and drummer Charlie Watts, as a guest on the North American tour.

As was the case last year, the set list is expected to focus on classic Stones hits like “Gimme Shelter,” “Paint it Black” and “Jumping Jack Flash.”

Later this summer, The Rolling Stones will play London’s Hyde Park, and for the first time in their career, the Glastonbury music festival in England, both of which are sold out.

(Editing by Jill Serjeant and Eric Walsh)

“We have to make an assessment on the cost to operate that space. We haven’t ruled it out, but we haven’t given it a green light either,” said D’Arrigo in an interview on Thursday. “We’re not going to be the first or a pioneer from the state’s perspective.”

Nevada, which legalized online poker in February, this week became the first state to go live as Station Casinos launched the first offering known as UltimatePoker.com.

New Jersey and Delaware have also legalized online gambling and are scrambling with plans to go live as well.

While MGM is pursuing the regulatory and licensing process in both New Jersey and Nevada, D’Arrigo and others believe either federal legislation or state compacts are needed to attract more gamblers and drive up liquidity to create a robust market that will eventually generate billions of dollars in revenue for companies and local governments.

Big casino operators would prefer federal standards or state compacts as they would offer larger, more uniform markets which would lure more gamblers and create better liquidity. State by state legislation could lead to a patchwork of regulations and different tax rates.

Some analysts project Nevada’s online gambling market will yield only $50 million to $250 million in annual revenues. The larger and more populated New Jersey is pegged to generate $500 million to $1 billion yearly.

“Our preference is for something to be done at the federal level. We’re focused on these state by state initiatives, but it makes (operating) more challenging and more complicated. The opportunities are different in each state,” he said.

“Hopefully states will compact with one another and that will create liquidity and critical mass,” he said.

On a conference call earlier, MGM officials said online gambling will ultimately be a very profitable business for the gaming industry if done correctly at the state level.

MGM reported a surprise profit for the first quarter, boosted by a rebound in Las Vegas and continued strength in the Chinese gambling region of Macau.

The casino giant earned $6.5 million, or one cent per share, compared with a loss of $217.3 million or 44 cents per share a year earlier. Analysts on average had forecast the company to report a loss of 10 cents a share, according to Thomson Reuters I/B/E/S.

MGM and Boyd Gaming have partnered with Web poker firms like Bwin.party to provide software and other services to their online gaming efforts across the U.S., including in both New Jersey and Nevada.

MGM and Boyd are co-owners of the Borgata Hotel and Casino in Atlantic City, which would provide both companies a way into the New Jersey online gambling market, which is restricting access to companies who have land-based operations.

MGM’s D’Arrigo believes that if there are state compacts, Nevada could emerge a leader in the industry due to its long history of gambling regulation and proximity to huge states like California, which is contemplating online gambling.

(Reporting By Susan Zeidler; editing by Andrew Hay)

A group of 10 lawyers and academics with experience in prior liability cases met in Indianapolis in mid-April to discuss whether a lawsuit claiming online gaming further promotes gambling addiction has a shot at winning.

The legal strategy under consideration would be modeled on the class action lawsuits that forced cigarette companies to agree to pay $206 billion over 25 years to compensate for medical costs, caring for people with smoking-related illnesses, and to fund anti-smoking advocacy groups.

Boston-based lawyer Scott Harshbarger told Reuters that more than 20 attorneys from high-profile law firms were among those invited to the meeting in Indianapolis and who have been communicating for the past few months. The meeting was billed as a “gambling litigation study group,” according to emails reviewed by Reuters.

Harshbarger, a former Massachusetts attorney general who led states’ efforts against Big Tobacco, said he could not attend the Indianapolis meeting but is working with the group in studying the parallels with the gambling industry.

Former Assistant U.S. Attorney Michael Fagan, who prosecuted 30 cases against offshore sports betting operations from 1997 to 2008, helped put together the Indianapolis meeting, according to one email. He declined comment.

The National Council on Problem Gambling estimates that gambling addictions account for $7 billion a year in added health care and criminal justice system costs. Gambling industry critics argue that casino companies use deceptive practices to lure consumers, depend on addiction for profits and should be held liable for the billions of dollars in costs to society.

Gambling company representatives reject the charges, saying their industry has a history of acting responsibly and helps to identify customers who may need treatment.

“It’s a government-approved, regulated product,” said David Stewart, a Washington-based lawyer with Ropes & Gray and general counsel to the American Gaming Association (AGA). “Nobody’s made Nordstrom reimburse somebody who is a shopaholic.”

Previous lawsuits targeting traditional gambling have been thrown out by the courts, Stewart said.

“The legal arguments are flawed,” he said. “It’s gambling. And when you gamble, you lose.”

ONLINE EXPANSION

Nevada became the first state to go live with online poker this week as Ultimate Gaming, a subsidiary of Station Casinos LLC, launched its Internet poker site Ultimate Poker in the state and began taking bets.

Ultimate Gaming CEO Tobin Prior said his company offers safeguards against problem gambling. “We offer an extensive array of limits that players can place on themselves as well as the option to opt out of betting entirely,” he said.

But critics think betting and time limits should be mandated rather than options, and also have found fault with the enforcement of so-called “opt out” or self-exclusion programs.

New Jersey is expected to release regulations for online gaming in coming weeks. Massachusetts, California, Hawaii, Illinois and Mississippi are among states also considering online gambling.

MGM Resorts, Caesars and Wynn Resorts have all applied for Web operating licenses. All three companies deferred their comments to the American Gaming Association.

CRAPS AND CIGARETTES?

It was not clear how the Indianapolis group might deal with past precedents working against them, including a 2004 federal appellate ruling that millions of gamblers could not be declared a single class because each gambles for different reasons.

That ruling derailed a decade-old legal effort to prove slot machines were inherently deceptive devices.

The recent gathering, though, examined possible similarities between gambling addiction and addiction to cigarettes.

“Big product liability litigators are comparing Big Tobacco cases in depth with gambling cases involving casinos and addiction,” said University of Illinois professor and author John Kindt, who attended the meeting in Indianapolis.

Critics claim that in addition to depending on addiction for profits, gaming companies pulled a page from Big Tobacco by running ads that glamorize their offerings and target youth.

Attorney Lori Stoltz of Canadian law firm Adair Morse LLP represents 10,000 problem gamblers in a suit against Ontario Lottery and Gaming Corp, who claim they were exploited and suffered losses because government-owned OLGC did not prevent them from gambling despite their signing self-exclusion forms.

Stoltz was not at the meeting, but believes similar lawsuits are likely. “Self-exclusion and where there isn’t appropriate follow through is one area that has come under challenge,” Stoltz said, adding, “There’s bound to be more litigation in this area.”

Gambling proponents say it is impossible to measure the social costs of gambling addiction.

“We don’t dispute but don’t confirm the $7 billion (in estimated costs) because pathological gambling often occurs in individuals with other addiction issues and to specifically attribute the costs to one disorder is a leap,” said American Gaming Association spokeswoman Holly Wetzel.

(Reporting By Susan Zeidler; Edited by Ronald Grover and Claudia Parsons)

A group of 10 lawyers and academics with experience in prior
liability cases met in Indianapolis in mid-April to discuss
whether a lawsuit claiming online gaming further promotes
gambling addiction has a shot at winning.

The legal strategy under consideration would be modeled on
the class action lawsuits that forced cigarette companies to
agree to pay $206 billion over 25 years to compensate for
medical costs, caring for people with smoking-related illnesses,
and to fund anti-smoking advocacy groups.

Boston-based lawyer Scott Harshbarger told Reuters that more
than 20 attorneys from high-profile law firms were among those
invited to the meeting in Indianapolis and who have been
communicating for the past few months. The meeting was billed as
a “gambling litigation study group,” according to emails
reviewed by Reuters.

Harshbarger, a former Massachusetts attorney general who led
states’ efforts against Big Tobacco, said he could not attend
the Indianapolis meeting but is working with the group in
studying the parallels with the gambling industry.

Former Assistant U.S. Attorney Michael Fagan, who prosecuted
30 cases against offshore sports betting operations from 1997 to
2008, helped put together the Indianapolis meeting, according to
one email. He declined comment.

The National Council on Problem Gambling estimates that
gambling addictions account for $7 billion a year in added
health care and criminal justice system costs. Gambling industry
critics argue that casino companies use deceptive practices to
lure consumers, depend on addiction for profits and should be
held liable for the billions of dollars in costs to society.

Gambling company representatives reject the charges, saying
their industry has a history of acting responsibly and helps to
identify customers who may need treatment.

“It’s a government-approved, regulated product,” said David
Stewart, a Washington-based lawyer with Ropes & Gray and general
counsel to the American Gaming Association (AGA). “Nobody’s made
Nordstrom reimburse somebody who is a shopaholic.”

Previous lawsuits targeting traditional gambling have been
thrown out by the courts, Stewart said.

“The legal arguments are flawed,” he said. “It’s gambling.
And when you gamble, you lose.”

ONLINE EXPANSION

Nevada became the first state to go live with online poker
this week as Ultimate Gaming, a subsidiary of Station Casinos
LLC, launched its Internet poker site Ultimate Poker
in the state and began taking bets.

Ultimate Gaming CEO Tobin Prior said his company offers
safeguards against problem gambling. “We offer an extensive
array of limits that players can place on themselves as well as
the option to opt out of betting entirely,” he said.

But critics think betting and time limits should be mandated
rather than options, and also have found fault with the
enforcement of so-called “opt out” or self-exclusion programs.

New Jersey is expected to release regulations for online
gaming in coming weeks. Massachusetts, California, Hawaii,
Illinois and Mississippi are among states also considering
online gambling.

MGM Resorts, Caesars and Wynn Resorts
have all applied for Web operating licenses. All three
companies deferred their comments to the American Gaming
Association.

CRAPS AND CIGARETTES?

It was not clear how the Indianapolis group might deal with
past precedents working against them, including a 2004 federal
appellate ruling that millions of gamblers could not be declared
a single class because each gambles for different reasons.

That ruling derailed a decade-old legal effort to prove slot
machines were inherently deceptive devices.

The recent gathering, though, examined possible similarities
between gambling addiction and addiction to cigarettes.

“Big product liability litigators are comparing Big Tobacco
cases in depth with gambling cases involving casinos and
addiction,” said University of Illinois professor and author
John Kindt, who attended the meeting in Indianapolis.

Critics claim that in addition to depending on addiction for
profits, gaming companies pulled a page from Big Tobacco by
running ads that glamorize their offerings and target youth.

Attorney Lori Stoltz of Canadian law firm Adair Morse LLP
represents 10,000 problem gamblers in a suit against Ontario
Lottery and Gaming Corp, who claim they were exploited and
suffered losses because government-owned OLGC did not prevent
them from gambling despite their signing self-exclusion forms.

Stoltz was not at the meeting, but believes similar lawsuits
are likely. “Self-exclusion and where there isn’t appropriate
follow through is one area that has come under challenge,”
Stoltz said, adding, “There’s bound to be more litigation in
this area.”

Gambling proponents say it is impossible to measure the
social costs of gambling addiction.

“We don’t dispute but don’t confirm the $7 billion (in
estimated costs) because pathological gambling often occurs in
individuals with other addiction issues and to specifically
attribute the costs to one disorder is a leap,” said American
Gaming Association spokeswoman Holly Wetzel.

Sands said first-quarter net revenue rose 19.5 percent to $3.3 billion, net income rose 14.6 percent to $572.0 million and earnings per share rose 13.1 percent to 69 cents a share.

On an adjusted basis, earnings rose to 71 cents from 70 cents a share. Analysts, on average, had expected Sands to post adjusted earnings of 66 cents, according to estimates compiled by ThomsonReuters I/B/E/s.

The company’s stock was up nearly 1 percent at $56.65 a share in after hours trading from its close of $56.25 on Wednesday.

“For me the big surprise was Singapore and its VIP business, which was very strong,” said John Kempf, an analyst with RBC Capital Markets.

The company said rolling chip volume, or betting volume by VIP players, at its Marina Bay Sands in Singapore rose 42.2 percent to $18.21 billion in the quarter, the highest quarterly volume in the property’s history.

According to analysts, Singapore is the second biggest value driver for the company after Macau.

But some analysts are cautious about the region because of a sluggish Singapore economy and moves by the government to impose stricter regulations for casino operators to minimize the social costs that often plague casino gaming cities.

Sands, operator of the Venetian in Las Vegas, said its Sands China Ltd (1928.HK: Quote, Profile, Research, Stock Buzz) Hong Kong listed unit and Macau casino operator, saw net income increase 63.3 percent to $452.9 million in the first quarter.

Revenue rose 39.3 percent to $2.02 billion in the quarter.

Las Vegas Sands Corp said last week that accounting firm PricewaterhouseCoopers will not stand for re-election as the company’s auditor, ending a 25-year relationship with Sands founder and chairman Adelson. Sands and the accounting firm said the decision to part ways was not motivated by any disagreements over financial statements or disclosures.

Sands said it had nothing to do with disclosures the company made in previous financial statements that it received federal subpoenas requesting information on its compliance with reporting requirements of the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act.

Adelson in early April testified in a retrial currently underway in Las Vegas of a lawsuit filed by Hong Kong businessman Richard Suen, who alleges the Las Vegas company never paid him an agreed “success fee” for helping secure a permit for a hotel and casino in Macau.

(Reporting By Susan Zeidler. Editing by Andre Grenon)

“I am pleased the California Gambling Control Commission (CGCC) granted a Gaming Resource Supplier license to Aruze and its principals,” said Okada, noting he has obtained licenses in 18 new jurisdictions and several license renewals since Wynn brought a suit against him in February 2012. Wynn claimed Okada engaged in improper conduct with cash payments and gifts to Filipino gaming authorities.

Altogether, the company, which provides electronic gaming machines, has about 150 gaming licenses, including multiple tribal licenses in several states.

“Each of these new licenses and renewals has been based on a determination that I am ‘suitable,’” Okada said in a statement.

Okada’s Aruze Gaming America is privately held and separate from Aruze USA, which is wholly owned by Okada’s Universal Entertainment Corp, and was Wynn’s largest shareholder until February 2012 when the board forcibly redeemed its 19.75 percent stake at a 30 percent discount.

The new California license is in addition to 43 California tribal licenses Aruze Gaming already holds. California requires that operators whose revenues top $25,000 within the state must submit an application for a state license.

Wynn Resorts declined comment on Okada’s announcement.

Last week, U.S. authorities publicly acknowledged there was a criminal investigation of Okada, Universal Entertainment and Aruze USA, for possible violations of the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act (FCPA), an anti-bribery statute dating to the 1970s.

Tina Littleton, executive director for the California Gambling Control Commision, said it will continue to monitor the U.S. Department of Justice investigation.

“The pending investigation was a concern, but the commission ultimately unanimously decided to issue Aruze and Okada a two-year finding of suitability with the directive to keep the commission apprised of the investigation,” said Littleton.

“If there’s any finding of criminal activity, a revocation or other action may take place.”

Okada and his companies are being investigated for potential violations of anti-bribery laws relating to a $2 billion casino project in the Philippines, according to a recent court filing.

U.S. federal prosecutors have sought permission to intervene in a lawsuit by Wynn against Okada to prevent disrupting an ongoing criminal probe into the bribery allegations.

Universal said in December it filed a defamation suit against Reuters in Tokyo for its reporting on the payments. Reuters has said it stands by its reporting.

(Reporting By Susan Zeidler. Editing by Andre Grenon)

The duo, dubbed the Toxic Twins in their drug-fueled early years, co-wrote many of the bands’ biggest hits like “Walk This Way” and “Back in the Saddle,” which catapulted Aerosmith to fame in the mid-1970s.

After winning multiple Grammys and other accolades, Tyler and Perry will be honored on Wednesday with the American Society of Composers, Authors and Publishers founders award for songwriting. They will be also inducted into the Songwriters Hall of Fame on June 13.

Tyler and Perry will miss the ASCAP ceremony because they will be on the Australian leg of the band’s “Global Warming” world tour in support of their first album of new material since 2001.

The duo told Reuters ahead of Wednesday’s ceremony that they draw much of their inspiration from each other, although Perry admits the process may be a bit tamer than in the 1970s and 1980s when he and Tyler turned out some big hits while under the influence of drugs.

“Taking drugs can be a shortcut to that place of creativity, but it will kill you in the end because it stops working,” Perry said.

“We had to figure out how to change the way we did things,” said Perry, 62, who is working on an autobiography and a solo record project.

Tyler, the son of a classical pianist, formed Aerosmith in Boston in 1970 after meeting Perry and bass player Tom Hamilton a year earlier.

They signed a record deal in 1971 and what followed were four often tumultuous decades filled with thousands of concerts, band break-ups, well-chronicled bouts of drug abuse, glorious comebacks and sales of more than 150 million albums worldwide.

“We all just get together in a room and inspire each other,” said Tyler, 65, who at 17 wrote the signature Aerosmith hit, “Dream On,” before meeting his future band members.

“The secret is to overwrite. I like to write 19 songs if I only need 12,” said Tyler, who quit last year after two seasons as a judge on “American Idol” to refocus on Aerosmith.

Asked how his writing methods have changed over the years, Perry said he now loves composing songs with the help of his smartphone recording device.

“Bottom line, I always have a studio with me. It’s called an iPhone,” said Perry.

He said he also likes to have a guitar in every room of his home in case inspiration strikes, often pausing the TV while watching late at night to lay down a new musical phrase or riff that comes into his head.

“I just feel like that there are too many rhythms that haven’t been explored in my head. Even in the narrow confines of rock ‘n’ roll, there’s an infinite amount of places to go,” Perry said.

Tyler said he has a lot of new material to work on, including some songs he began but did not complete for the band’s November release “Music from Another Dimension.”

“I have 30 thumbnail sketches I haven’t finished, including four without any lyrics,” Tyler said.

(Editing by Jill Serjeant and Mohammad Zargham)

Richard Suen alleges the Las Vegas company stiffed him on an
agreed upon “success fee” for helping secure a permit for a
hotel and casino in Macau, a Chinese special administrative
territory that has become the world’s most lucrative gambling
mecca.

“He couldn’t deliver and he wanted to keep his fingers in
the pie,” the 79-year-old Adelson testified in a Las Vegas
court. “Once he couldn’t, he wanted to get his fee and offered
other services,” such as public relations and arranging
financing, said Adelson.

Adelson, who entered the courthouse on a motorized scooter
and looked frail and unsteady as he walked to the witness stand
with the aid of a cane, nearly caused a mistrial by presenting
promotional brochures for his convention business that hadn’t
been cleared to be introduced into evidence.

Adelson produced the brochures in court despite instructions
from his legal team not to bring them, his lawyer Richard Sauber
said. Adelson was using the brochures to show that Sands didn’t
need Suen’s help in marketing.

Sands has become one of the world’s most profitable casino
companies over the past decade, largely on the strength of its
Macau operations.

But the company faces allegations from Suen and from its
former China CEO, Steve Jacobs, who has also filed a lawsuit
against Las Vegas Sands for wrongful dismissal. Jacobs alleges
that Adelson demanded he conduct “secret investigations” into
the finances of Macau government officials in order to “exert
leverage.”

Adelson has denied Jacobs’s allegations.

The company said in financial filings with the U.S.
Securities and Exchange Commission that it “intends to defend
this matter vigorously.”

Adelson’s testimony on Thursday came on the second day of
the retrial of the Suen case. In 2008, a jury in Nevada state
court awarded Suen $43.8 million in damages, plus interest. But
an appellate court overturned that verdict on the grounds that
some of the evidence used was inadmissible.

Suen’s attorney, John O’Malley, estimated in opening
arguments for the current case that the amount his client was
owed had increased to $328 million, based on what he said was an
agreement for Suen to receive $5 million plus 2 percent of
Sands’ net profits in Macau.

In his opening argument, O’Malley detailed meetings he said
Suen arranged for Adelson, including with one of China’s then
vice-premier Qian Qichen and with Beijing Mayor Liu Qi. The
lawyer said Adelson offered help in defeating a House of
Representatives resolution against awarding the 2008 Olympic
Games to Beijing.

But Adelson said this wasn’t the case.

“The idea that me, a kid from the slums, could help China,
the largest country in the world, as if it had no lobbyists of
its own, is ludicrous,” Adelson said from the stand.

The Chinese government did not respond to a request to
comment on the 2008 Olympic Games.

Sands has said that it won the Macau license without Suen’s
assistance.

Adelson said Suen contacted him in 2000, after Macau said it
would end its government monopoly over gaming.

Adelson said he met Suen in the Peninsula Hotel in Macau and
then in the meeting room at the Macau airport where the Hong
Kong businessman introduced him to two Chinese businessmen.

“Suen brought two guys, Liu or Chu, something like that,”
Adelson said. “I’m not very good at Chinese names. I’m not
always good at English names.”

Adelson testified that after failing to deliver help in
winning the license, Suen next offered to help Sands find
financing and investors for the Macau casino.

He also offered to arrange public relations and lobbying for
the company, which Adelson said he declined.

Sands has disclosed in regulatory filings that it received a
subpoena from the SEC in 2011 related to its compliance with the
Foreign Corrupt Practices Act (FCPA), and had been advised the
U.S. Department of Justice was conducting a similar
investigation.

The results of an investigation by the Sands board after it
received the subpoena found “likely violations of the books and
records and internal controls provisions” of the FCPA, Sands
said in a Dec. 31 filing with the SEC. It also said at that time
it had improved its practices.

A spokesman at Las Vegas Sands could not be immediately
reached for comment.

Sands said in the filings that it believes the Justice
Department subpoena may have been prompted by Jacobs’ lawsuit,
which was filed in 2010. Jacobs was present in the packed Vegas
courthouse for Adelson’s testimony on Thursday, but declined to
comment on his case.