NEW YORK, March 9 /PRNewswire-FirstCall/ -- Melco PBL Entertainment (Macau) Limited ("Melco PBL Entertainment"), a developer and owner of casino gaming and entertainment resort facilities focused exclusively on the rapidly expanding Macau market, announced its Crown Macau Hotel Casino ("Crown Macau") is targeted to complete construction and open on a trial basis on April 28, 2007. The Crown Macau is scheduled to formally open to the public on May 9, 2007, and a grand opening event will be held on the May 12, 2007.

"We continue to make excellent progress at Crown Macau. Our construction program remains on schedule and we look forward to the trial opening," states Simon Dewhurst, Executive Vice President & Chief Financial Officer of Melco PBL Entertainment. "Against tough deadlines, our construction has progressed relatively smoothly, a testament to our Crown Macau contractors and staff."

The construction of Crown Macau commenced on December 2004 and is being developed to offer a luxurious premium hotel and casino resort experience. In the Company's initial public offering prospectus, filed with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission on December 19, 2006, the Company estimated that the total project development costs for the Crown Macau would be US$512.6 million ("Projected Costs"), which included the value of land for the project, land premium costs, anticipated construction costs, furniture, fixtures and equipment expense (or FF&E), pre-opening expenses, capitalized fees and finance costs, cage cash and initial working capital requirements.

.The Company now projects that additional costs of approximately US$71 million will be incurred on the project, representing an increase against the estimated Projected Costs of approximately 14%. The increase in budgeted costs is in three principal areas: pre-opening and property marketing expenses; FF&E expenses for the casino operations; and design and fit-out expenses for the hotel and casino areas.

Upon completion of Crown Macau on April 28, 2007, the property will feature a 36-story tower including approximately 183,000 square feet of gaming space with approximately 220 gaming tables and more than 500 gaming machines.

About Melco PBL Entertainment (Macau) Limited

Melco PBL Entertainment is a developer, owner and through its subsidiary, Melco PBL Gaming (Macau) Limited (the "MPBL Gaming"), an operator of casino gaming and entertainment casino resort facilities focused exclusively on the rapidly expanding Macau market. MPBL Gaming is one of six companies granted concessions or subconcessions to operate casinos in Macau. Melco PBL Entertainment's development projects include the Crown Macau, which is targeted to open in the second quarter of 2007, and the City of Dreams, the first phase of which is targeted to open in late 2008. Its existing projects include the Mocha Clubs, which feature a total of approximately 1,000 gaming machines in six locations and comprise the largest non-casino based operations of electronic gaming machines in Macau. Melco PBL Entertainment has also entered into an agreement, subject to certain conditions, to acquire a third development site on the Macau peninsula. For more information about Melco PBL Entertainment, please visit http://www.melco-pbl.com.

The Macau gaming venture of Melco International, run by James Packer's Publishing & Broadcasting Ltd and Lawrence Ho, the son of billionaire Stanley Ho, will raise as much as $US1.1 billion ($1.4 billion) selling new shares to fund its casino licence purchase and gaming hotel construction spree.

Melco PBL Entertainment (Macau) Ltd will sell 53 million American depositary shares for $US16 to $US18 each, raising as much as $US954 million, with an option to sell another 7.95 million shares, the company said in a filing on Friday with the Securities and Exchange Commission in the US.

PBL last month announced it was selling its traditional media businesses, including the Nine Network, for $5.5 billion to a joint venture with private equity, leaving it free to concentrate on gaming, including its Melco PBL Entertainment venture.

Mr Packer and Melco are also partners in a bid for a casino on Singapore's Sentosa Island. Stanley Ho last week sold down his shareholding in Melco to 8.45 per cent from 12.45 per cent in a move said to be connected to probity issues.

"This looks to be a part of a strategy to expose the venture to the larger global gaming market," said Jonathan Galaviz, a partner at Globalysis, a Las Vegas gaming and leisure consulting company.

Macau is the only Chinese city where casinos are legal. Visitor arrivals in the former Portuguese colony were 1.99 million in October, 20 per cent higher than a year earlier, and the city overtook the Las Vegas Strip as the world's largest gaming centre by revenue in the third quarter.

Melco PBL, which bought its Macau gaming licence from US tycoon Stephen Wynn for $US900 million in March, is building two casinos in Macau and seeking a site for a third. The company, run by Lawrence Ho, also has a chain of slot machine lounges.

Net proceeds from the initial public offering will be about $US834.4 million, or $US960.8 million should underwriters Credit Suisse, Citigroup and UBS use their right to sell the additional shares, the filing said.

The venture will use about $US514 million to repay, with interest, a $US500 million loan used to help pay for the licence, the filing said. Melco PBL had a loss of $US20.5 million on sales of $US18.2 million in the nine months to September 30, it said.

Melco PBL will open the $US512.6 million, 220-gaming table Crown Macau casino in the second quarter of 2007, it said in the filing. It has started work on the 2000-room, 450-table City of Dreams, scheduled for completion in phases starting in late 2008 at a total cost of $US2.1 billion.

The venture is also buying a third site, by the water on the Macau peninsula near the ferry terminal, for a casino and apartment complex costing as much as $US700 million, the filing said. Melco PBL expects to open the project in mid-2009, should the land purchase succeed, it said.

Melco PBL also expects to run the casino at Macau Studio City, a retail and entertainment complex scheduled to open in 2009, it told the Hong Kong stock exchange.

Macau's government in 2002 ended Stanley Ho's four-decade monopoly of the gaming industry in the enclave, an hour's boat ride from Hong Kong, by issuing two additional casino licences, which were subsequently divided.

Without the additional shares, 13.7 per cent of Melco PBL's stock will be in public hands and the rest held by Melco and PBL, the filing said. It does not give a schedule for the sale.

New York, January 9, 2007 – Melco PBL Entertainment (Macau) Limited (“Melco PBL Entertainment”), a developer, owner and operator of casino gaming and entertainment resort facilities focused exclusively on the rapidly expanding Macau market, today announced that it has sold an additional 9,037,500 American Depositary Shares (“ADSs”), representing 27,112,500 ordinary shares, pursuant to the underwriters’ option to purchase these additional ADSs from Melco PBL Entertainment at the initial public offering price of $19.00 per ADS less the underwriting commission to cover over-allotments of the ADSs. The ADSs are evidenced by American depositary receipts, or ADRs. The offering comprised an initial public offering of 60,250,000 ADSs representing 180,750,000 ordinary shares, which began trading Tuesday, December 19, 2006 on the NASDAQ Global Market under the symbol “MPEL”.

Credit Suisse, Citigroup and UBS Investment Bank acted as joint book runners for this offering, and CLSA Asia-Pacific Markets, JPMorgan, CIBC World Markets and Deutsche Bank acted as co-managers for the offering.

This press release shall not constitute an offer to sell or a solicitation of an offer to buy any securities.

About Melco PBL Entertainment (Macau) Limited

Melco PBL Entertainment is a developer, owner and operator of casino gaming and entertainment casino resort facilities focused exclusively on the rapidly expanding Macau market. A subsidiary of Melco PBL Entertainment is the holder of one of only six gaming concessions and subconcessions to own and operate casinos in Macau. Melco PBL Entertainment’s development projects include the Crown Macau, which is