2002年春天，中国博彩业大亨何鸿�(Stanley Ho)对他听到的一个提议感到难以置信。“你是认真的吗？”他问Philip Wang。Philip Wang是美国博彩集团美高梅(MGM Mirage)的使者，前来询问何鸿�是否有兴趣在澳门成立一家合资公司。
“我们非常、非常认真，”身为美高梅高级副总裁的Philip Wang答到。
后来，Philip Wang告诉新泽西州博彩业执法部(DGE)的调查员：“（那个提议）真是孤注一掷。当时我们非常绝望。”
在发出这个提议之前，澳门发出了三张新的博彩牌照。科克•科克里安(Kirk Kerkorian)旗下的美高梅在争夺战中败下阵来，最终只排到第五位。澳门是中国特别行政区，当今世界最大的博彩市场。
三张牌照中，一张由何鸿�的澳门博彩股份有限公司(Sociedade de Jogos de Macau，澳博)获得，另两张被美高梅的美国竞争对手——拉斯韦加斯金沙集团(Las Vegas Sands)和永利度假村(Wynn Resorts)——收入囊中。
“我们舔了舔伤口，然后就开始分析是否有其它途径进入澳门市场。”美高梅前法律总顾问加里•雅各布斯(Gary Jacobs)这样告诉DGE。他的话被引述在一份监管报告中，这份报告完成于2009年5月，但直到本周才对外公布。
美高梅最终与何鸿�之女何超琼(Pansy Ho)联手成立了合资公司。在澳门政府再度批出三张博彩牌照后，该合资公司获准进入澳门市场。
但DGE的监管报告认为，何鸿�涉嫌与亚洲有组织犯罪团伙有往来，建议宣布何超琼是一个“不合适的”合作伙伴，同时建议美高梅“脱离与她的任何直接或间接关系或财务关系” 。
然而美高梅并没有听从新泽西州的指示。本周，美高梅同意出售所持大西洋城赌场Borgata Hotel Casino and Spa的50%股权，而继续保持与何超琼的合作关系。
何超琼拒绝置评新泽西州的报告。何鸿�则始终否认与澳门或香港犯罪团伙或黑道有任何关系。
美高梅首席执行官吉姆•穆伦(Jim Murren)在一份声明中表示：“DGE的报告承认，没有证据表明，何超琼有过任何不当行为，或者曾因非法行为而受到过指控。”
但DGE的报告曝光了美高梅为进入澳门市场进行的各种运作，严厉批评了该公司的尽职调查程序。
DGE还详细例举了何超琼在经济上对她父亲的依赖。根据报告，何鸿�以他女儿的名义设立了一只特别信托基金，何超琼用在与美高梅建立合资公司上的钱，就来自这只基金。
此外，何超琼还从高盛(Goldman Sachs)、汇丰(HSBC)和瑞银(UBS)等处借了款。
对何超琼之妹何超凤(Daisy Ho)，何鸿�同样很慷慨。报告称，何超凤每月从父亲手里拿到2.5万美元的“零用钱”。
除此之外，这两位姐妹还能拿到数目可观的薪水和股票分红，并报销各种费用。在她们父亲控股的澳博以及在香港上市的信德集团有限公司(Shun Tak Holdings)，她们都担任高管和董事。
美高梅与何鸿�成立合资公司的努力于2003年落空。当时美高梅总部所在地内华达州的一个监管机构警告，该州的博彩监管委员会(GCB)不会批准此事。
DGE的报告称：“（内华达州监管机构）明确表示，担心何鸿�涉嫌与有组织犯罪有勾连、他在澳门的赌场涉及放高利贷和收债行为、以及他与其它一些博彩监管机构之间（不愉快的）经历。”。
虽然没有证据表明何鸿�个人与亚洲黑社会有关联，但他的赌场长期以来把“贵宾室”分包给外部经营者的做法，让不少名声不佳的人得以进入澳门博彩市场。
“你要是不知道何鸿�是什么人，以及他给人什么样（负面）的感觉，那你肯定是与世隔绝，”美高梅前董事长兼首席执行官特里•兰尼(Terry Lanni)告诉DGE。“何鸿�在监管者眼中的形象是洗不干净的。”
美高梅于是转而考虑与何超琼组建对半持股的合资公司，希望她会被外界看作充分独立于她备受争议的父亲。
内华达州、伊利诺伊州、密歇根州和密西西比州的监管部门的确得出了这样的结论。双方合资公司澳门美高梅金殿(MGM Grand Macau)于2007年12月开张，总投资额12.5亿美元。
虽然这些州的监管机构都认为何超琼独立于她父亲，但在新泽西州看来，这只是一个幌子，并认为美高梅在尽职调查方面有许多缺失之处。
不过，告别大西洋城不太会让美高梅有什么想念之情。2月份大西洋城的赌场营业额总共才2.6亿美元，与澳门的18亿美元相比，是小巫见大巫。
译者/杨远
Stanley Ho, the Chinese gaming tycoon, could not believe the proposal he received in the spring of 2002. “Are you serious,” he asked Philip Wang, an emissary sent by MGM Mirage to enquire about the tycoon's interest in forming a Macao joint venture with the US gambling group.
“We are very, very serious,” replied Mr Wang, a senior vice-president for MGM Mirage.
“[The approach] was really a wild card,” he later told investigators from New Jersey's Division of Gaming Enforcement. “At the time, we were very desperate.”
MGM Mirage, controlled by Kirk Kerkorian, had finished fifth in the race for three new casino concessions in Macao, the Chinese special administrative region that is today the world's biggest gaming market.
One had gone to Mr Ho's Sociedade de Jogos de Macau, the others to MGM Mirage's US rivals, Las Vegas Sands and Wynn Resorts.
“We licked our wounds for a bit, and then tried to analyse whether there were any other opportunities for us to enter the Macao market,” Gary Jacobs, MGM Mirage's former general counsel, told the DGE in a regulatory report completed in May 2009 but only released this week.
MGM Mirage eventually formed a joint venture with Mr Ho's daughter, Pansy, that gained entry to Macao after three more gaming concessions were approved by the government.
The report, citing Mr Ho's alleged association with Asian organised crime figures, recommended that Pansy Ho be declared an “unsuitable” partner and that MGM Mirage “disengage from any direct or indirect business or financial association with [her]”.
But rather than heed New Jersey's directive, MGM Mirage this week agreed to sell its 50 per cent interest in the Borgata Hotel Casino and Spa in Atlantic City and continue its partnership with Ms Ho.
Ms Ho declined to comment on the New Jersey report. Mr Ho has consistently denied any connections with Macao or Hong Kong criminal gangs, or triads.
“The DGE's report acknowledges there is no evidence that Pansy Ho has engaged in any wrongdoing or been accused of any illegal activity,” Jim Murren, MGM Mirage chief executive, said in a statement.
But the DGE's report lays bare the company's efforts to enter Macao and harshly criticises its due diligence procedures.
The DGE also details Ms Ho's financial dependence on her father. According to the report, Mr Ho established a special “Petunia Trust” on his daughter's behalf, which she used to fund her investment in the joint venture with MGM Mirage.
In addition, Ms Ho borrowed money from Goldman Sachs, HSBC and UBS.
The patriarch's largesse also extends to Ms Ho's younger sister, Daisy, who the report says receives a monthly “allowance” of $25,000 from her father.
This is in addition to the considerable salaries, expense accounts and share benefits both women enjoy as executives and directors at their father's holding company, Sociedade de Turismo de Macau, and Hong Kong-listed conglomerate Shun Tak Holdings.
The attempt to form a joint venture with Mr Ho foundered in 2003 when a regulator in Nevada, where MGM Mirage is based, warned that the state's Gaming Control Board would not approve it.
“Specifically, [the regulator] raised concerns about Stanley Ho's alleged organised crime connections, issues involving loan sharking and debt collection at his Macao casinos, and Stanley Ho's [negative] experiences with other casino regulatory agencies,” the report says.
While there is no evidence that Mr Ho is personally connected to the Asian underworld, his casinos' long-established practice of sub-contracting so-called “VIP rooms” to outside operators has given an unsavoury cast of characters entry to Macao's gaming market.
“You would have to be living under a rock not to know about Stanley Ho and what the [negative] perception of Stanley Ho is,” Terry Lanni, MGM Mirage's former chairman and chief executive, told the DGE. “There was no way of clearing Stanley Ho in the eyes of regulators.”
MGM Mirage therefore turned its attention to forming a 50-50 joint venture with Ms Ho, in the hope she would be seen as sufficiently independent from her controversial father.
That was indeed the conclusion of regulators in Nevada, Illinois, Michigan and Mississippi, and the two partners opened the $1.25bn MGM Grand Macau in December 2007.
Where other state regulators saw a daughter independent from her father, New Jersey saw a fig leaf and a catalogue of due diligence failings at MGM Mirage.
The company, however, is unlikely to miss Atlantic City, where overall casino revenues were $260m in February – compared with $1.8bn in Macao.
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