Acknowledging that his dominance of the gaming business has eroded with the arrival of overseas competitors, Ho said he still controls a 63 percent share of the multi-billion dollar casino pie.

Casinos in Macau raked in US$6.485 billion (HK$50.58 billion) from slot machines and table games from January to November last year, surpassing the US$6.079 billion take in Vegas.

The HK$5 billion Grand Lisboa, a 52-story complex with a 430-room hotel as well as a five-floor casino with 240 tables and 484 slot machines, opened Sunday, just in time for the thousands of traditional Chinese gamblers who are expected during the Lunar New Year break this weekend.

Standing adjacent to the old, gaudy Casino Lisboa, the imposing venue is the latest project by Ho's Sociedade de Jogos de Macau. Grand Lisboa is shaped like a lotus and has a dome covered in golden-hued glass.

Seven casinos opened last year, adding to a nearly 100 percent surge in gaming tables to 2,762 at the end of December, while slot machines increased to more than 5,000.

Ho's casinos still attract millions of Chinese, including from the mainland and Hong Kong. In 2006, 11.9 million mainland residents visited Macau.

Observing the changing gaming landscape, Ho put into perspective Sunday the arrival of new players in town and their impact on his business.

"Imagine, there are six gaming concessionaires [in Macau], meaning our share should be 16 percent. But at 63 percent, it means that SJM does better business than the others in Macau," Ho said.

He believed the new arrivals have a long way to go to become really competitive on his turf. Ho appeared to pay more attention to the mass market, rather than just the "whales," or the highrollers.

"VIPs are still important - they make up 70 percent of our business - but there are difficulties in that sector," Ho said, adding the mass market was more predictable.

Analysts also say that revenue from high rollers will soon be overtaken by casual, mass-market gambling. They also say SJM's market share will drop further as more casinos open.

JPMorgan forecast that SJM's share will further dwindle to just 25 percent of the market by 2009, even though it controls 17 of the city's 24 casinos.

Meanwhile, Ho said he is confident the HK$15 billion listing in Hong Kong of SJM will go ahead this year.

"The listing of SJM will surely happen this year, and it will happen before September," Ho said.

Referring to a legal dispute with his litigious sister, Winnie Ho Yuen-ki, who holds 7.3 percent of SJM's parent Sociedade de Turismo e Diversoes de Macau, Ho said: "There's nothing she can do that can stop us."

Last month, a Macau court ruled that a shareholder meeting that approved the float was legal.