Vegas casino told to pay $43.8 million

Las Vegas -- A Nevada jury has ordered Las Vegas Sands Corp. to pay Hong Kong businessman Richard Suen $43.8 million for helping the company win a gaming license in Macau.

Capping a six-week civil trial in Clark County Court, the verdict delivered Saturday came after about 10 hours of deliberations, the Las Vegas Review-Journal reported Sunday.

"Within the first hour, we voted seven-to-one that (Suen) deserved damages," said jury foreman Nelson Orth of Henderson, Nev. "The rest of the time was spent determining exactly as to how much those damages amounted."

The jury said Suen should be paid $43.8 million for his help to Las Vegas Sands to win a shared gaming concession from the Macau government in February 2002.
Suen's attorneys had sought $100.5 million in damages.

In a statement, Las Vegas Sands said it "will file the appropriate post-trial motions with the trial judge. If unsuccessful we will vigorously pursue an appeal. We, and our attorneys, are confident we would prevail in such an appeal."

Copyright 2008 by United Press International.