betty: tonight on "titans at the table," i traveled to what many consider the las vegas of the east. macau. this is part of what attracts people here, right? lawrence: yeah. betty: the small territory on the southern chinese coast raked in $45 billion of revenue last year. seven times more than vegas, and there's a race to control all that money. did you ever think macau would surpass las vegas by that uch? >> it makes perfect sense. the resorts in macau are world class comparable to las vegas. macau has took off. pansy: we are talking about the next generation of people from china have become more affluent.

betty: siblings lawrence and pansy ho have become leaders in the macau casino industry thanks to their father, stanley ho. brother and sister have a combined net worth of $7 billion. for the last decade, they have met some stiff examination, from a las vegas billionaire who's known for constantly betting against the odds. sheldon: they vastly predicted i wouldn't even open. they didn't believe somebody else could do something better than they could. betty: they underestimated you. sheldon: they grossly underestimated me. betty: sheldon adelson has a net worth of $35 billion. much of that wealth made on his macau casinos. the race for macau pits billionaire against billionaire. all of whom are vying for the attention of the 1.3 billion chinese to the north. macau is an 11-square mile enclave on the southern coast of mainland china.

for over four centuries, it was under portuguese rule. and today it's the closest place to china where gambling is legal. in 1962, chinese businessman stanley ho was the first person -- first to usher in a new era of casinos in macau. for decades, ho built a gambling empire that raked in billions. he paved the way for other investors to make it big in macau. today, one of those investors is stanley ho's son, lawrence ho. lawrence: my father revolutionized the casino market 40 years ago in macau. he brought in a new style. throughout my career and also throughout my life, it's about trying to prove myself. betty: it was important to you to prove that you could build a company from scratch? lawrence: yes. definitely. betty: determined to break out of his father's shadow, he partnered up with australian james packer, himself the son of a famous tie con, together they formed

melco crown. their properties include two extravagant resorts. it gives vegas a run for their money. lawrence: it is the ultimate destination for urban entertainment in macau. betty: lawrence refers to the "city of dreams" as an integrated resort. where tourists come to not only put their chips on the table but to spend at high-end boutiques and stay at five-star hotels. what has vegas inspired you or what have the casino moguls helped you in terms of inspiration in macau? lawrence: many times in asia, a lot of people built slowly and are more conservative. whereas when you go to las vegas, and you see the mega-resorts, the 3000, 5000 rooms, shows and theaters and nightclubs, my philosophy is more along those lines. it's like go big or go home. so i think having seen that's

workable and doable, i think that's how i kind of developed city of dreams which is -- betty: big vision. lawrence: big vision, and we need to give people and our customers something they have not seen before. it is about being more innovative. and being bigger and better. betty: bigger, better, and wetter. part of lawrence's vision is attracting customers through live performances, including this acrobatic experience called "house of dancing water." it is the crown jewel of city of dreams. five days a week, 3.7 million gallons of water flow through the custom-built stage as actors dance, dive, and dazzle a captivated audience. building it was a huge gamble. it premiered in 2010 in the wake of the financial crisis. lawrence: we went ahead and continued to build out our $250 million "house of dancing waters"

show. but it's been a huge success and the fact that we tried these new things that nobody wants to try has really given us an edge. betty: in the beginning, business was far from booming. lawrence ho's first casino opened to disappointing results. it seemed as if his gamble to go big in macau was destined to go bust. but then ho focused his attention on high-stakes v.i.p. clients. the tables quickly turned. last year, revenue topped an incredible $5 billion. are you surprised, by the way, how fast this has grown and developed? lawrence: one of the great things that has happened is the growth of the middle income earning bracket in china. because they are at an age where they would like to travel and enjoy life. betty: did you ever think macau was going to surpass las vegas by that much? lawrence: we all knew that was going to happen. because ultimately, if you look at, you know, geographically --

a lot of our customers prefer things that are closer. since now the resorts in macau are world-class, comparable to las vegas, it makes perfect sense that if you look at macau within the five-hour flight time there's over a billion people. whereas if you go from new york to las vegas, that is also five hours. betty: while lawrence is bringing lots of glitz and glam to gambling in macau, sheldon adelson says he invented the concept -- in vegas first and now he says he's the one that will conquer macau. sheldon: they vastly and wrongly predicted i would not even open. i'd never get a build and if i got a build i'd be open and if i did open i'd be in bankruptcy immediately. they didn't want to believe someone else could do it better than they did. betty: they underestimated you. sheldon: right. they grossly underestimated me. betty: when we come back, sheldon adelson tells us why he is the real king of macau.

betty: for a man whose business caters to high rollers and big spenders, billionaire sheldon adelson's roots are decidedly unglamorous. today he can often be seen as high-profile events with his wife, miriam. he was born the son of a cab driver in a poor section of boston. adelson first began in the convention business in 1979 when he founded one of the largest technology trade shows. he eventually sold that and other smaller shows for hundreds of millions of dollars. 10 years later he bought the original las vegas sands hotel only to demolish it and replace it with the venetian. it's the first integrated resort of its kind. with hotel, casino, shopping centers, entertainment and exhibition space. sound familiar? in macau, he has built another very nearbyian almost exactly

like it -- venetian almost exactly like it but with more gaming space. this is what adelson says made him stand out among other casino tycoons. was listening to you speak, and you mentioned you wanted to build a las vegas in macau. you could just pick it up if you could in asia. you just wanted to do that. how come no one else saw that? sheldon: i guess that is what visionary is made out of. betty: no, but really. people thought you were crazy. sheldon: of course. i have been in dozens of businesses. every time i go into business, everybody thinks i am crazy. nobody wants to recognize that doing something different than what people do routinely is viable. nobody wants to recognize that. the only way that i could prove it was to do it and succeed. betty: adilson didn't just secretary sued cede, he dominated -- adelson didn't

just succeed, he dominated. his first resort, the sands macau, was so successful he made back the $265 million investment in the first year. sheldon: 30,000 people showed up. more than 30,000. we don't know the exact number because as they waited to get in, they knocked the doors down. betty: adelson went on to build 2,900 central and a -room venetian macau. he plans on adding another property to be completed by the end of 2016. bringing the grand total to over 10,000 rooms. if he has his way, visitors would never leave. sheldon: we are now developing enough retail malls of different types. ou can be in 3,000, 6,000, 12,000 or 15,000 hotel rooms and never leave the building. betty: wow. sheldon: i'll give you an

anecdote. here, i had a friend of mine from boston that came in with his wife to go to the jubilee show and they came in on a thursday. on monday he said, hey, sheldon, how's the weather out? i said, you have not been out? he said, why would i go out? everything i want is here. betty: lawrence ho is talking about shows that are coming in. it's hotels, retail, it's restaurants. they're all copying you, sheldon. sheldon: yes, they are. they're trying to copy me. he's a nice guy. he's a gentleman. he has no exhibition and convention space. there's not a city in the world that doesn't want exhibition space and convention space. betty: as many of adelson's peers have noted, it's his very success in macau that has left las vegas in the dust. a point not lost on the billionaire. did you ever think macau would -- was going to surpass las vegas in the way it has? >> yes. betty: what convinced you?

sheldon: well, when we first applied in macau in 2002, there was $2.5 billion in gross gaming income. by 2004 when we opened the sands, $5.5 billion. betty: $5.5 billion? sheldon: right. in two years. betty: wow. sheldon: the business was there. i think that people weren't recognizing it. how did i think it was going to grow? because there was 1.3 billion chinese. betty: in fact, about 64% of adelson's las vegas sands revenue comes from his macau properties. since opening the sands macau in 2004, he has expanded into other industries. include ferries. bringing people from his resorts in hong kong to macau in high-speed boats. sheldon: what i recognized was , one, there was not enough ferry service. so i set up a ferry company.

what do i know about the ferry business? what i know about every business when i go into it. zero. but there's not much i cannot learn. i believe that this industry in which we operate, in the lodging and the gaming industry, i believe that it's a supply-driven industry. betty: so if you -- sheldon: if you put those buildings there, they will come. betty: and they did. sheldon: and they still do. betty: when we come back, the battle for market share pits adelson against the ho family, not just lawrence, but his sister, pansy ho. she tells us how she's trying to keep the gaming industry all in the family. pansy: my father paved for the foundation for macau today. we carry that torch. ♪

betty: sheldon adelson may be trying to conquer macau, but patriarch stanley ho's industry

-- original empire is far from failing. his company, s.j.m. holdings, operates the most casino tables in macau. nearly 2,000. and it's a quarter of macau's revenue. we spoke with pansy ho, his daughter. who says gaming in macau is still a family business. you are the richest woman in hong kong. pansy: i don't know how they calculate it, but they say o. betty: do you feel, and among your own siblings, the fact that you are part of a legendary hong kong family? you feel like you have that added responsibility? pansy: can he definitely feel like we have that sort of legacy, as you said, from my family's contributions. if you look at it, there was 450 years of portuguese presence in macau. and my father actually helped create for macau its best time and paved, in fact, the moundation, you know, for macau

today in terms of creating the largest industry, the gaming industry of 50 years. we would very much want to help to grow macau to be something that is more exciting and more important. we definitely carry that torch. betty: pansy has a 27% stake in m.g.m. china, which owns the m.g.m. grand macau property. the casino made $3.3 billion in revenue last year. i know you have this partnership with m.g.m. pansy: yes. betty: first off, how is that relationship going? pansy: well, it's going very well. i think this is the best moment when we are both really sting on our laurels, we are have done fantastically well, especially last year. we are now snug in the position where we have formed a strong professional team, which really

oversees the daily operations. and we have, you know, the time and space to consider long-term perspective strategies for the future. betty: of the 30 million visitors that come to macau to roll the dice each year, more than 60% are from mainland china. hodge congress is just an hour ferry ride away. the typical chinese consumer is evolving. pansy: cheas been surprising is the swiftness that the chinese consumers are really changing. in many ways, they're not exactly the kind of stereotype that we would have thought about the chinese consumer market, their patterns and behavior. this is a very fluid group of people. they are full of curiosity. their requirements continue to change over time. we can already see that happening during the past seven or eight years. betty: pansy ho also runs a company that operates turbo

jets, a high-speed ferry service between macau and hong ong, competing directly with adelson's ferry service. last year, her ferries transported about 28,000 people a day. pansy: through our past experiences, we've been running the terminals, the ferry terminals, and we've had that direct experience. e know how to manage the commercialize and also the real estate so it can actually be a great service to people. betty: that is not how adelson sees it. sheldon: she doesn't like that we are a competitor in the ferries. now, i can't say that i am the ferry expert of the world, but because she got very bitter over the competition, so she has been bitter all this time. betty: coming up, the clash of the titans continues as they look beyond macau for the next gambling mecca. ♪

betty: the explosion of the casino business in macau has been a huge windfall for this tiny chinese territory and the beijing government. casinos paid the government almost $18 billion in taxes and fees in 2013 just to operate in macau. with great success comes a great amount of squabbling. adelson, a man who is not afraid to wade into conflict, whether it is about israeli sovereign rights -- sheldon: there is no such history as the palestinian people. betty: or how the g.o.p. can take back the white house -- said he's seen his share of battles against the ho family. sheldon: there was a meeting of a coalition of the concessionaires. so i sat in one of the meetings and pansy ho was there. and it was not a very congenial

environment. betty: she was not nice to you? sheldon: i don't think she was nice to most of the people. she doesn't like that we are competitive in the ferries. i think it is a matter of jealousy. i think they never anticipated that i would succeed. if you go back to when i first opened in 2007 with the venetian, and you look at the clippings, you look at the articles, it would be very clear that they thought that i would fail. the day i opened, we opened like 6:00 or 7:00 in the evening, by 7:00 in the morning we had over 114,000 visitors. betty: wow. sheldon: listen to this, there were 30 million people visiting macau. we got last year 63 million visitations. how can i get 63 million visitations from 30 million visitors? because 30 million visitors went to one of my four

properties twice. betty: it remains to be seen who will claim the crown of -- as king of macau but for lawrence ho, he says success sometimes bigger isn't always better. some things that happen in vegas should stay in vegas. lawrence: by having bigger properties, sometimes you lose the experience. sometimes people have to walk for five minutes or 10 minutes from the elevator just to go to their rooms. for asians they are not used to that. betty: do you understand the chinese tourist naturally more, because you are chinese versus sheldon adelson or steve wynn? lawrence: well, i think that's the advantage that, you know, we would have as well. you know, i was born in hong kong. spent time in hong kong and macau but at the same time was educated in north america. so i kind of get a good sense, you know, the best of both

worlds. and the formation of melco crown 10 years ago was really based on that belief. how do i marry the best of the east with the best of the west? betty: it's easy to see the asian touches when you walk around his companies. the dragons. the statue. the feng shui that he incorporates into the layout. lawrence: when we first started, it was allly gold and iron metal bars. it resembled the bamboo, but then feng shui came in and said no, no. betty: it has to be real. lawrence: it has to be real. i said ok. betty: but adelson, who once called himself the richest jew in the world, says there is no monopoly on culture. sheldon: by vast majority, most of our employees are chinese. my chinese dealers and my chinese service people interact with chinese customers. well, what's the difference? betty: they would say they know

the people. they're chinese. sheldon: really? they're chinese. betty: they know what they want. sheldon: listen, i can't be a successful businessman if i don't respect who and what my customer is. the resorts are a commercial enterprise. the measurement of success is the bottom-line profit. why are we several times more profitable than each one of them? betty: some casino watchers warn there is a bubble of hotels forming in macau that's about to burst. fears of a smoking ban and stricter visa rules have investors worried that the inflow of tourists may slow down. but rather than wait, these titans are doubling down. across macau, adelson, the hos, steve wynn and others are spending $26 billion on new resorts, doubling hotel capacity. but they won't stop there. these casino titans want to score big in the rest of sia.

lawrence: i think japan is the holy grail at this stage. they have pachinkos. pachinkos are slot parlors. but technically you don't win money, you win prizes. very popular. sort of amazement-type industry but that industry in itself is $35 billion. it has a lot of potential. betty: with the olympics slated for tokyo in 2020, the casino industry could win big in japan with all the worldwide publicity. but the government still has to approve. but win, lose, or draw, the -- these titans have already made a killing in macau. ♪

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