INTERVIEW-Melco Crown aims to double mkt share with new casino

HONG KONG, June 1 (Reuters) - Casino operator Melco Crown Entertainment Ltd (MPEL.O) on Monday said it is aiming to double its Macau market share within a year, as it opened a $2.1 billion casino and forecast the market would return to growth by year end.

"Before the end of the year, we'll see flat or tiny growth," Lawrence Ho, chief executive of Melco Crown, a joint venture between Hong Kong-listed Melco International Development Ltd. (0200.HK) and Australia's Crown Ltd CWN.AU, told Reuters in an interview.

The 32-year-old son of Macau casino tycoon Stanley Ho made the remarks as Melco Crown opened its City of Dreams mega-casino resort on the Cotai Strip, a dusty strip of reclaimed land in Macau that is lauded as Asia's answer to Las Vegas' neon alley.

Melco Crown, which had an overall market share of about 14 percent of Macau's gaming market in 2008 through its existing Altira resort, has expanded its business even as other competitors, including Las Vegas Sands Corp. (LVS.N) and Galaxy Entertainment Group (0027.HK), have delayed projects in Macau because of the slowdown in the sector.

Ho said Melco Crown had no plans to expand in other markets within the next 12 to 18 months, adding that he hoped to remain focused on the Asia market, and had no interest in going to the United States, the world's biggest gaming market.

(Reporting by Sui-Lee Wee and Doug Young, Editing by Chris Lewis)

((suilee.wee@thomsonreuters.com; +852 2843 6314; Reuters Messaging: suilee.wee.reuters.com@reuters.net))

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