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Casinos in Asia 2
亚洲赌场
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Casinos are popping up all over Asia. Their biggest risk is political
亚洲赌场遍地开花。政治成关键因素。
Vegas comes to Manila
赌场来到马尼拉
KABUKICHO, Japan's biggest fleshpot, swarms over a crowded one-kilometre block of Tokyo.
距离东京1000米的歌舞伎町区是日本最大的娱乐场所，其中混杂着各种俗丽酒吧按摩院和破旧的酒店。
It is a gaudy patchwork of clubs, massage parlours and seedy hotels, a short walk from what is probably the world's busiest train station.
距离这里几步之远的或许是世界上最繁忙的火车站。
Hoodlums from Yakuza crime gangs tout illicit thrills from a well-thumbed menu of sex, drugs and gambling.
来自流氓团体的暴徒们进行着不正当的色情交易聚众赌博吸食毒品。
Takeshi Iwaya, a politician, wants to pull gambling out of the seedy company it keeps in Kabukicho and put it into giant family-friendly casinos.
政客Takeshi Iwaya希望将赌博从歌舞伎町破旧的公司中转移到巨型家庭赌场之中。
He is lobbying for Japan to lift its ban on casinos.
他希望通过游说让日本解除对赌场的禁令，
A share of Macau's eye-watering gambling revenues is the goal.
从而瓜分澳门那令人眼红的赌博收益。
Singapore, home to a couple of new upmarket casino resorts, is the model.
新加坡这个新兴的赌博度假村形式就是他的范本。
Three years ago, the island state allowed Marina Bay Sands, run by Sheldon Adelson's Sands empire, and Resorts World Sentosa, run by Malaysia's Genting group, to open.
三年前这个岛国允许由谢尔登?埃德森年代金沙帝国经营的金沙赌场和由马来西亚云顶集团经营的综合娱乐城赌场开业。
They earned 5.9 billion last year, nearly as much as all of the casinos on the Las Vegas strip.
去年盈利59亿美元与拉斯维加斯所有赌场盈利相近。
Before it can reach such lofty heights, however, Japan must legalise casinos.
对日本而言，要获得如此巨额盈利的前提是是赌场合法化。
It has been debating doing so for years, but supporters say they have finally lined up all the ducks.
就这一问题各方争论多年，支持者称他们最终会规范这个行业。
A cross-party group of 140 politicians supports the move, including the prime minister, Shinzo Abe, says Mr Iwaya.
他称由包括安倍晋三在内的140位政客组成的跨党派小组支持这一想法。
Liberalising gambling would fit well with Mr Abe's radical reforms to boost Japan's sluggish growth.
开放博彩业符合安倍晋三的激进改革思路，能推动日本经济复苏。
Japan's police have dropped their long-standing opposition, and parliament is expected to debate a legalisation bill soon.
对此，日本警察的态度似乎稍有缓和，反对意见有所下降。
The time is right, says Mr Iwaya.
同时国会也希望尽快讨论法案合法化。Iwaya 称：现在是最好的时机
Legalisation still has its opponents.
但仍有反对者阻止该项法案合法化。
Keiko Itokazu, another parliamentarian, worries that the Yakuza gangs have a record of muscling in on legal businesses, from property to banking.
一个国会议员Keiko Itokazu担心黑手党会借此干涉合法商业活动，包括所有权及银行。
Mr Iwaya responds that there are already lots of illegal casinos in Japan; bringing the business out into the open can only make things better.
对此Iwaya回应到日本目前已有大量非法赌场，将赌场公开化更有利于管理。
Liberalisers also argue that casinos will boost Japan's earnings from foreign tourists and, more important, rapidly deliver a tax windfall to the heavily indebted government.
支持者同时指出经营赌场能够促进外国游客在日本的消费，更重要的是能够通过暴利税缓解政府负债情况。
A Japanese business magazine, Toyo Keizai, has argued that Japan is being left behind as neighbouring countries rush to build lucrative gambling resorts, combining casinos with luxury hotels, shops and cultural attractions.
鉴于邻国加快建设获利丰富的博彩度假村，与赌场相连的奢华酒店，商店以及由此带来的文化影响，日本的一本商业杂志，东阳经济写到：日本正在落后。
Indeed it is: countries across the Asia-Pacific region have abandoned their hostility to gambling and are welcoming the big global casino groups.
的确，亚太地区国家已经消除了对博彩事业的敌意并积极引进全球赌场组织。
In July it emerged that Stanley Ho's son Lawrence, also a casino mogul, had reached a deal to open a casino near Vladivostok in Russia's far east.
7月份， Stanley Ho之子，赌场巨头Lawrence达成协议将在俄罗斯远东靠近海参崴的地方开设赌场。
Vietnam is looking to boost foreign tourism by expanding its casinos, and proponents of gambling are making headway in Sri Lanka and Taiwan.
越南也希望通过开设赌场发展旅游业，同时斯里兰卡和台湾的支持者也取得了进展。
In July Australian lawmakers approved a proposal by James Packer, a billionaire businessman, to open a second casino in Sydney.
7月，澳大利亚的立法者通过了一项由James Packer这位亿万富文提交的关于在悉尼开始第二家赌场的提案。
His firm, Melco Crown Entertainment, runs casinos in Macau with the younger Mr Ho.
他的公司，新濠博亚娱乐有限公司和小Ho先生在澳门共同经营一家赌场。
They are also partners in a casino now being built in the Philippines.
他们也共同投资了菲律宾正在建设的一家赌场。
Mr Packer has said he is also keen to move into Japan as soon as it liberalises.
他表示如果日本开放博彩业，他很有兴趣前去投资。
He will face competition closer to home: Tony Fung, a Hong Kong tycoon, plans to build a gambling resort in Queensland.
最近在他老家澳大利亚附近他也面临着挑战—Tony Fung，一个香港巨富打算在昆士兰建造一个赌博度假村。
A thriller in Manila
马尼拉的巨变
The Philippine capital is famous for many things—floods and traffic jams for a start—but not for striking architecture.
最开始菲律宾首都以洪水和交通拥挤而不是夺人眼球的建筑闻名。
Now, however, on a large plot of reclaimed land overlooking Manila Bay, it is getting four big and impressive casino buildings at once.
然而，现在站在一大片填海土地上眺望马尼拉湾时，首先映入眼帘的便是4个巨大且令人印象深刻的赌场。
The first of Manila's new gambling venues, the Solaire Resort & Casino, has opened.
马尼拉第一家新兴博彩场馆，the Solaire Resort & Casino已经开业。
It is a sleek plate-glass affair with a suitably flashy interior created by Paul Steelman, a casino designer from Las Vegas.
它由来自拉斯维加斯的赌场设计师Paul Steelman设计，它有着光滑的玻璃已经舒适华丽的内饰。
Operated by the Philippine-owned Bloomberry Resorts and Hotels, Solaire will cost over 1 billion to finish.
将耗资10亿美元建设完成Solaire会由菲律宾国营的Bloomberry度假村酒店经营。
This was the minimum investment required to win one of the four licences on offer.
这是获得四个赌场许可证之一的最低投资要求。
The other three Manila projects are joint ventures with overseas operators.
另外三个马尼拉的项目都是有海外运营商的合资项目。
The Belle Grande, to be operated by Melco, is due to open next year.
由新濠国际运营的大百丽计划于明年开业。
Another, Manila Bay Resorts, is backed by Kazuo Okada, a Japanese billionaire.
另外依靠于日本富豪冈田和生的马尼拉湾度假村由于遇到了各种法律上的麻烦可能会推迟开业。
It has run into various legal troubles that may delay it, including allegations of bribery and using front companies to own land on its behalf.
这些麻烦包括受贿指控以及利用前公司扩占土地等问题。
Mr Okada's company says it plans legal action against employees it accuses of making illegal payments contrary to company rules,
冈田先生的公司称他们将会运用法律手段与指控其不顾公司规定获取非法收益的员工经行斗争。
and that it is co-operating with the authorities to ensure it obeys the law regarding its land ownership.
同时它也会与政府展开合作，确保其严格遵守法律获取土地。
The fourth project, Resorts World Bayshore, is backed by Genting, a gambling giant with global ambitions.
海滨名胜世界作为第四个项目由云顶集团投资。
Genting kick-started Manila's casino craze when it opened Resorts World Manila opposite the capital's main airport in 2009.
该集团是有着全球野心的巨型博彩企业。2009年首都机场对面马尼拉云顶世界的开业掀起了马尼拉赌场狂潮。
Older casinos had acquired a dubious reputation as smoke-filled dens for solitary gamblers.
之前的赌场作为为孤独的赌徒提供烟雾弥漫的窝点已获得了一定地位。
RWM demonstrated that a casino complex could appeal to the whole family by incorporating shows, cinemas and posh shops.
马尼拉云顶世界则展示了作为一家复合型赌场，它应该为整个家庭提供服务，包括综合表演，电影院以及奢侈品店。
The formula satisfies both God and mammon;
这种经营方式满足了上帝也赚到了钱；
it appeased critics of gambling, such as the Philippines' influential Catholic church, and made lots of money.
它既平息了对来自菲律宾具有影响力的天主教堂对赌博的批判也赚到了钱。
RWM's takings were 355m in its first year.
第一年RWM就赚到了355,000,000美元。
The government hopes the new casinos will boost tourism across the country, with punters moving on to beach resorts to spend their winnings, or cry over their losses into their pia coladas.
政府希望这些赌场会带动当地旅游业的发展，让赢家将所赢金钱消费到沙滩度假村，让输家借酒浇愁。
Solaire sees a healthy market both from local punters on modest budgets—with bets of as little as 300 pesos—and from VIP tables where the minimum is at least 25,000 pesos.
对于仅将7美元作为赌注预算的船夫与那些至少会花25，000pesos的贵宾而言，Solaire都是一个理想的场所。
Solaire expects about half of these high-rollers to come from mainland China and another third or so to hail from Japan and South Korea.
Solaire表示这些狂赌者有一半以上都来自中国大陆，另外还有三成左右来自日本及韩国。
It will send a private jet to pick up the real big spenders, those who think nothing of splashing out 10m over the course of a junket.
会派私人飞机接待那些在游览中随便用上1千万美金的真正大款。
Solaire's owner is Enrique Razon junior, whose family made its money in shipping.
其拥有者是小Enrique Razon，他的家族以航海为生。
The only cloud on his horizon is geopolitical: the Philippines' increasingly acrimonious confrontations with China and Taiwan over disputed territories and waters in the South China Sea.
他的眼中只有地理学：在中国南海上的，菲律宾加强了其与中国关于领土领海问题的激烈对抗。 Razon承认道。
This does worry us, Mr Razon concedes. When the Chinese government tells people not to go to the Philippines, they don't go.
当中国政府告诉人们不要去菲律宾，大家就真的不去了，这让我们很担心。
All of the countries in the region have a similar love-hate relationship with China, in which diplomatic spats can all too easily flare up.
本区域内的所有国家都与中国有着爱憎关系，这样外交矛盾轻易就会爆发。
That is why, as Chin'a generates ever larger numbers of well-off consumers with a passion for gambling and a desire to travel, the main concern for the region's many new casino projects is not competition from each other; it is politics.
现在中国比以往拥有更多的热爱旅行，热衷赌博的富人。这就是为什么这一地区内赌场项目更关注的是政治而不是同行中的竞争力。
