After a confidential report by the New Jersey Division of Gaming Enforcement (DGE), MGM Mirage is recommended to terminate all business contacts with its Macau partner, Pansy Ho, daughter of Stanley Ho, who is under suspicion of ties with the organised crime.

Details around the recommendation, where submitted by the New Jersey DGE, filed with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission. They will look at the report, and determine whether the New Jersey licensee for MGM mirage will be extended. Ho’s name is not mentioned in the report, but it is known that in 2004, MGM signed a deal with Pansy Ho, for 50 percent in the shares of the MGM Grand Macau, a casino that currently holds 6 percent of Macau’s market share in its possession. Pansy Ho said in a statement that she is aware of the report by the New Jersey DGE, but that she and her advisers need time to read and consider the contents of the report and then decide how to best respond to it. A hearing will most likely be scheduled for the case, which could lead to the withdrawal of MGM from Macau. Because of the economic downfall, MGM already had to stop their plans for a new casino in Atlantic City, and they had to sell 1 billion dollars worth in private shares, in order to pay of debts. Gambling and casino gambling are the most popular businesses in Macau, before licenses for casinos operators where needed in 2002, Macau was controlled by organised crime, Stanley Ho, Pansy Ho’s father is suspected for having ties with this organised crime.