To have sufficient staff to keep all its tables open around the clock during the holidays, the Sands Macau has suspended training sessions and holiday leave. The casino's 45 VIP suites are all booked for favored high rollers. Minimum table bets, which are sometimes adjusted every hour to calibrate demand, will float higher during the holidays. Both Las Vegas Sands and rival Sociedade de Jogos de Macau (SJM) have scoured for space to set up new tables. Both opened new halls with about 40 new tables each.

SJM found room in the basement and lobby level of the Hotel Fortuna, a 150 million pataca (HK$151.59 million) project, chipping off some restaurant space. The Fortuna is a block away from the Hotel Lisboa.

The Sands opened its new ground-floor ``Pearl Room'' in an area previously earmarked for shops. The hall features 180 electronic gaming machines in addition to tables, adding to the 671 slot machines and 328 tables already open at the Sands.

Director of casino operations Walter Power said he could not provide a figure for the cost of the Pearl Room, but said more table space may be made as the company capitalizes on rising demand.

``We're looking at every square inch of this place,'' he said.

The casino is still finishing work on three presidential suites and three penthouse suites that Niall Sean Murray, senior director for non-gaming operations, estimates will open in several months.

The Sands does not collect revenue for any of the suites. They are offered to gamblers wagering big sums.

Las Vegas Sands is also opening its first private betting salons at its flagship Venetian casino in Las Vegas in time for Lunar New Year.

Power said the company is modeling those salons on the Sands Macau's VIP areas.

Power said that Sands is now working with two junket agents in Macau to bring in high rollers. ``We're issuing credit to select players,'' he said.

But because the government has yet to offer a tax deduction for uncollectible gaming debts, he said, the casino is being more conservative than at the Venetian in Las Vegas.

One change for the New Year is that smoking is banned in the new Pearl Room. Power said the Sands opened with no restriction on smoking, counting on its spacious, well-ventilated layout to disperse fumes, but after some complaints began restricting smoking in some spots.

Power estimated about 10 percent of punters smoke.

China's crackdown on gambling has not affected traffic to the Sands, Power said.

zach.coleman@globalchina.com