More Macau stuff - Ray, do you know which one?

[AussieVamp2]

HONG KONG (05/00) - Stanley Ho, the most successful and best known gambling mogul in Asia, plans to launch a wagering website this summer, a fact that has the Hong Kong Internet police on high alert. While on-line gambling is illegal in Hong Kong and penalties for Internet betting range from fines of up to $5 million to seven years imprisonment, law enforcement officials are concerned that the cachet of the Ho name will attract local bettors to the website.

Ho, who operates on the nearby island of Macau, expects that DrHo.com will generate $20 million during its first year. Eyeball.com, a Canadian software company, is a partner in the project.

[chestrockwells]

Boy there's a name from the past. That mans influence extends FAR beyond the gambling world. Mr.Ho and his "syndicate" have run Macau's gambling and tourism industry since I was in kindergarden. Extremely well respected and probably feared a bit too. I have no doubt it'll succeed.

[AussieVamp2]

Press Release

Eyeball.com Partners with Dr. Stanley Ho to Launch DrHo.com, Revolutionary Broadband Entertainment Site

Sneak Preview of Virtual Reality Game at E3 Expo

Vancouver, BC - May 11, 2000 - Eyeball.com, a leading broadband Application Service Provider offering live, interactive multimedia communications, announced that today, in partnership with international gaming tycoon and Hong Kong billionaire, Dr. Stanley Ho, it will preview DrHo.com. DrHo.com is a revolutionary broadband entertainment site featuring virtual reality gaming and interactive media. The highly anticipated launch preview of the DrHo.com site will take place exclusively at Electronic Entertainment Exposition (E3) in Los Angeles, CA, May 11 to 13, (Booth #2600).

At E3, Eyeball.com will preview a portion of the DrHo.com Web site - the Virtual Casino - a real-time, interactive casino that combines 3D animation with real dealer and player interaction. Player and dealer interaction is enabled by the Eyeball Games™ SDK (Software Development Kit) which synchronizes the real dealer's actions to 3D animation:


In one corner of the display, players see the DrHo.com card dealer live in the casino, through a video camera.
The outcome of the round is displayed in 3D animation in real-time on the main part of the display, along with the animated DrHo.com dealer.
The player moves animated chips to place bets, and this information is fed back to the computer at the dealer's table to determine the next move or pay out.
Games featured in the Lounge include Baccarat, Big & Small, Black Jack, Caribbean Poker, and Roulette.

The DrHo.com site, targeted at broadband subscribers in Asia, is based largely on Eyeball.com's Eyeball Media Delivery Technology™, a revolutionary new technology that ensures superior picture and sound quality for each Internet user.

"The Virtual Casino goes beyond anything existing on the Internet today," said Chris Piché, Chairman and CEO of Eyeball.com. "It may seem 'futuristic' because the technology we have developed is so cutting-edge. The real-time interaction combined with video and animation will blow you away!"

The DrHo.com site will go live in the summer of 2000, in conjunction with the release of Eyeball.com's own Web-based video chat service, Eyeball Chat™, on www.eyeball.com.

Photos available at: www.eyeball.com/press/

About Dr. Stanley Ho
The 79-year-old self-made billionaire is one of the wealthiest and most powerful figures in Asia. Dr. Ho is respected as an entrepreneur with flawless instincts and a philanthropic spirit having built an international luxury hotel and casino empire concentrated in Macau. Dr. Ho's enterprise, which also includes the world's largest jetfoil fleet to ferry visitors from Hong Kong to Macau, has helped the economy of Macau flourish with tourism. Driving his empire into the 21st century, Dr. Ho will launch the DrHo.com entertainment site in the summer of 2000.

About Eyeball Media Delivery Technology Eyeball.com developed its revolutionary, patent-pending, adaptive multimedia delivery technology for one-way and two-way applications on the Internet. Eyeball Media™ is unique in its ability to dynamically adapt and optimize media quality to individual users based on the available network bandwidth and computational resources, providing maximum quality and superior reliability to each user. This technology is used in Eyeball Chat™, which will be launched in the summer of 2000.

About Eyeball.com
Founded in 1996, Eyeball.com Network Inc. (www.eyeball.com) is a leading broadband Application Service Provider based in Vancouver, Canada, offering live, interactive Web-based multimedia communications based on its Eyeball Media Delivery Technology™. Eyeball.com's vision is to enable users of PCs and wireless Internet devices to interact face-to-face, in real-time. Eyeball.com will provide access to ubiquitous video communications, not constrained by platform or user level.

In the summer of 2000, Eyeball.com will launch Eyeball Chat™, the world's first Web-based interactive video chat service requiring no plug-ins, no downloads, and no installations. Eyeball Chat allows any Internet user with a PC video camera to communicate face-to-face in real time simply by signing up for an account at www.eyeball.com.

[Hartley]

By Fabian Dawson
Staff Reporter
Vancouver Province


An Asian billionaire whose business interests are the subject of inquiries into international organized crime has teamed up with a B.C. computer whiz to bring real-time gambling to your home computer.
Stanley Ho's virtual casino, called DrHo.com and based in Antigua, is expected to go online this summer with technology designed by Vancouver-based Eyeball.com Network Inc.

Gamblers will be able to play poker, blackjack, roulette and a host of
other games in real time with live dealers.
Eyeball.com is run by 28-year-old Chris Piché, a computer science grad who was admitted to Simon Fraser University at age 13. He later got a bachelor of science in computer science from the University of B.C.
"We are only providing the technology . . . all other legalities and e-commerce transactions are being dealt with by Dr. Ho's people,"
said Angie Hirata, of Eyeball.com. Ho, 78, has an honourary doctorate.

"The technology enables players to communicate face-to-face while >playing,"
she said, adding that the company predicts its market will reach six million residential users worldwide by the end of this year.
Piché began his career in computers at age 12 by developing game software,
Hirata said: "His entrepreneurial flair and technical expertise played a key role in leading Eyeball.com to a revenue growth of 9,000 per cent in its first three years."

Ho's virtual casino gives the Macau gaming magnate, who has other extensive business interests in Canada, an entry into the country's gambling industry.
Ho, according to regulatory sources, has been trying to get a Canadian casino licence for several years. His daughter, Pansy, applied unsuccessfully for a casino licence in B.C.
"The law is not clear on the issue of how to deal with offshore-based Internet gaming operations," said Det. Randy Peterson, of the B.C. Organized Crime Agency.

"That is the million-dollar question," said Peterson, when asked if a Canadian gambler could be charged for betting on DrHo.com or other Internet gaming sites.
He said Internet gaming operations are not allowed to operate out of Canada or the U.S.

Ho is no stranger to controversy. His business interests in Canada were examined in the mid-'90s by the Canadian Security Intelligence Service and RCMP. In 1992, a U.S. Senate committee investigating Asian organized crime said Ho's operations had been linked to criminal figures.
The Province revealed this year that Ho was listed as triad leader in 1990 by the RCMP in their Asian Organized Crime Roster.
The tycoon's business interests are being investigated in the Philippines.

In Canada, a parliamentary committee on organized crime is looking at Ho's
connections. Julie Fernandes, a spokeswoman for Ho, has said her boss is not connected
to organized crime and is a well-respected international entrepreneur.

[AussieVamp2]

thanks Hartley

[AYCE]

Stanley Ho is a legend.

However, his influence nowadays in Macau just CAN'T be compared than 15 or 20 years ago.

The "game" is different in Macau right now.

If he wants to try an online casino, sure he will have enough resources to make it one of the best. But my bet will be he WON'T have much sucess if his target market is HK (indeed that should be).

Just ask Easybets, they wanted to have a press conference in HK couple months ago but it was forced to be cancelled.

The definition of legalized gambling in HK is,

monopoly of HK government.

If you are them, would you give this gold mine easily to the others?