ANALYSIS - Macau casinos go from boom to gloom

By Dominic Whiting

HONG KONG (Reuters) - When multi-billionaire Sheldon Adelson unveiled a gleaming model of casinos and plush hotels in a dimmed Macau room nearly four years ago, he promised a $15 billion Asian "neon alley" to rival Las Vegas.

But the vision Adelson said came to him in a dream could remain largely idle reclaimed land for a few years longer as the financial crisis and slowing gaming revenue puts him billions of dollars short of the funding he needs to complete the project.

Left in the dust of Macau's Cotai Strip are the hopes of some of the world's biggest hotel chains, such as Starwood Hotels and Intercontinental Hotels, which imagined a bustling centre of fun and conferences.

"It's all doom and gloom," said a construction executive at a rival casino project in Macau, who asked not to be identified in making comments about a competitor.

"There are going to be some mass cullings on building sites."

Hampered by steep construction costs, frustrated by Chinese visa restrictions and squeezed by tour operators asking high commissions to ship in gamblers, Macau casinos have had a tough time in the last year.

Now Adelson's Las Vegas Sands is struggling to fund projects because falling revenue from Las Vegas means it risks breaching U.S. loan covenants, which tie debt levels to earnings. Banks could demand early repayment.

The firm, stretched by a casino project in Singapore, suspended construction on its Macau expansion and said on Thursday it was laying off most of the 11,000 construction workers on the projects.