Wynn Resorts has sold a sub-concession to Australian-owned PBL to operate two casinos in Macau, reports the Las Vegas Sun. The deal has brought Wynn a cash windfall of $900 million.

PBL paid a huge premium, the paper reports, because Wynn does not carry the same kind of regulatory baggage that other concession holder, Stanley Ho, does. By contrast with PBL $900 million, MGM reportedly paid $250 million for a sub-concession in a partnership with Stanley’s eldest daughter, Pansy.

Hmm. That can’t be the whole story because PBL’s joint venture partner is Melco International - a company chaired by Stanley Ho and operated by his son, Lawrence. Surely that would implicate Ho as much as buying a sub-concession from him.

Lawrence has always insisted, as the Business Press reported in January, that Melco is independent but this is looking more and more like the three concessions that were supposed to break Ho’s monopoly are giving him a great infusion of capital and the family, at least, a huge share of the new casino development in Macau.

PBL’s decision to pay a premium to be its own master with Melco in Macau has pushed the stock higher in Monday trading in Australia. This is the new risk-taking approach of PBL Chairman James Packer. Insiders tell the Sydney Morning Herald that legendary whale Kerry Packer would never have made the same big bet.

Already, the regulatory authorities in Nevada and New Jersey are raising questions about the Ho connections. If Australian regulators start asking the same questions about PBL, which operates the Crown Casino in Melbourne, it would be a trifecta.