The Sands achieved great success last year by targeting the territory's neglected mass market with Las Vegas-quality service and facilities, but the casino is putting increasing focus on the high rollers who drove the growth of Macau's gambling market in the two decades before the Sands arrived. In 2003, for example, high-stakes baccarat generated 77 percent of Macau casino revenue.

During the years of Stanley Ho's casino monopoly, an extensive network of agents emerged to steer high rollers into VIP rooms in his casinos, extend them credit to bet and collect payment in the bettors' home cities. The agents receive commissions based on the volume of chips purchased for play by gamblers.

Kelvin Tan, a Manila-based consultant to various junket agents, said the Sands this week introduced a promotional commission rate of 1percent for players or agents who buy at least HK$1 billion in chips in a month with cash or by exchanging cash chips from winning bets. The Sands is supplementing its offer with a 0.1 percent commission credit toward food, beverage and other trip costs.

The effective 1.1 percent commission is the highest offered in Macau, Tan said. The Sands had already moved to match the basic 0.8 commission rate paid by Ho's Sociedade de Jogos de Macau (SJM); the territory's third casino operator, Galaxy Casino, made strong inroads into SJM territory last year by offering commissions as high as 1 percent.

Tan does not expect Sands' higher commission to affect the flow of high rollers much in the short term because it cannot yet match the convenience offered by SJM's agents' credit and collection network.

He said that only a fifth of high-end players carry their betting stakes to Macau, as the rest either deposit funds with a marketing agent before they travel or play on credit, partly because of China's restrictions on carrying cash abroad; those gambling on their own account are most likely to gravitate toward the Sands because they can collect the chip-purchase commission directly, Tan said.

The Sands will gain ground over time as it adds agents and representatives within the mainland and other source markets.

``I am willing to bet that in the long run, as more Chinese gamblers become more sophisticated, they would prefer operators like Sands,'' he said. ``They have got a great property.''

To appeal to aspiring sophisticates, the Sands, owned by United States-based Las Vegas Sands, created the invitation-only ``Paiza Club'' last August.

The casino offers select members complimentary suites with saunas, karaoke rooms, plunge pools and massage areas.

Construction is still under way on the top tier of suites. Members also get access to richly furnished private betting rooms, the most elaborate of which opened this week.

The Sands however has been cautious about doing business with junket agents as casino credit and collection was traditionally an area controlled by triad gangs because Macau lacked a legal credit system until last summer.

With an eye on protecting its reputation and license in its corporate home in Nevada, the Sands recently began working with several carefully screened agents and is evaluating others.

Agents who can pass muster, however, tend to lack the experience and contacts of SJM's well-established network, Tan said.

A Macau-based casino consultant familiar with Sands' management said Sands is feeling increasingly free to wade into Macau's high-roller market as rival MGM Mirage's success in securing approval in the United States for its proposed joint venture with Stanley Ho's daughter Pansy has shown state regulators to be more relaxed about practices in Macau than expected.zach.coleman@singtaonewscorp.com