Once Harrah’s Entertainment shied away from bidding on the Sentosa Island resort concession in Singapore, it looked like a photo finish between Kerzner International and Genting, with Las Vegas developer Mark Advent an extreme long shot. Now Advent has improved his odds by adding the dynamic duo of PBL/Melco to his team.

Owners of Macao’s sixth (and last) casino concession, PBL and Melco are headed by publishing heir James Packer and Lawrence Ho, son of Stanley. The elder Ho’s ties to Melco shouldn’t be problematic. The PBL/Melco joint venture cleared regulatory hurdles in Packer’s native Australia once Stanley Ho stepped down as Melco’s chairman. That probably won’t hurt PBL/Melco’s chances in Singapore, either, although it didn’t probably help the Ho and Packer heirs that they had declared Singapore too rich for their blood earlier this year.

However, the two scions of wealth can offer something that neither Genting nor Kerzner has: direct pipelines of players from both the Australian and Macanese markets. A promised $3.5 billion in investment capital should also be favorably received.

Whether Advent meets the Singaporean government’s high-end expectations for development and architecture remains to be seen. His resume boasts a handful of tribal casinos and the makeover of the defunct Continental into that lap of luxury, Terrible Herbst Hotel & Casino. Not exactly what the Singapore pooh-bahs have in mind, I suspect.

Advent’s claim to have “changed the face of Las Vegas” with New York-New York Hotel & Casino also seems rather a stretch. (Besides, heavily themed properties are so 1990s, man.) The pinchpenny hand of original co-owner Gary Primm is reputed to have worked to New York-New York’s detriment and definitely necessitated an extensive makeover by its current owner, MGM Mirage.
In short, the participation of PBL/Melco puts a good deal more horsepower into Advent’s bid. Whether he’s the driver who can push it across the finish line is another question entirely.