Casino operator Galaxy Entertainment Group says Phase 2 of its Galaxy Macau resort will officially open to the public on May 27. At a Hong Kong press conference on Friday, Galaxy chairman Lui Che Woo (pictured) also vowed to spend another $7.4b developing Phases 3 and 4, representing a total outlay of $12.9b in Galaxy Macau.

Phase 2’s launch will coincide with the reopening of the Grand Waldo Entertainment Center across the street. Galaxy acquired the Waldo property in May 2013 for $419m. Rechristened Broadway at Galaxy Macau, the property aims to recreate New York’s theater district and will be connected to Galaxy Macau by an air-conditioned ‘sky bridge.’

Lui Che Woo noted that Galaxy owned the biggest plot of land on Macau’s Cotai strip, giving it definite advantages over other operators. Phase 2’s launch will still leave half of Galaxy’s land bank untouched and ready for future development.

Galaxy deputy chairman (and son of the boss) Francis Lui said Phase 2 had the capacity to host up to 500 gaming tables and 1k slots, although the company is still talking to the government about the number of tables the property will be allotted. The former Waldo venue hosted 45 tables, but how many the new Broadway venue will boast is equally unknown.

Macau has long insisted it will stick to its plan to cap table growth at 3% per year until 2022, when the last of Macau’s six casino concessionaires’ licenses expire. The official number of tables in operation in Q4 2014 was 5,711, of which 3% is just 171. And Melco Crown Entertainment will want a few hundred new tables of its own when it opens its new Studio City resort later this year.

However, Macau officials have occasionally suggested the 3% cap had a little flexibility, particularly for operators who devote a significant portion of their new properties to non-gaming elements. Galaxy’s new venues have non-gaming in spades, including a 3k-seat theater, 120 bars and restaurants plus 1.5k new hotel rooms. Lui Che Woo said the goal was to make things “more diverse, from entertainment, leisure, culture and art … to meet the requests from [Beijing] and Macau.”

Galaxy CFO Robert Drake told the press that the company was “quite confident we will get a sufficient amount of tables to generate the returns we have been forecasting.” The new properties will require Galaxy to add an additional 8k employees in 2015.

Slot machines are coming to Hawaii‘s airports if a local politician gets her way. State Rep. Cindy Evans has introduced a bill to allow passengers flying out of Hawaii the option of spinning a few reels after their planes are delayed.

HB 91 authorizes “the implementation of amusement concessions to provide slot machines at state airports for departing passengers.” Basically, duty-free slots. To play, you have to provide evidence that you’re over 21 years of age and scheduled to fly beyond US borders within the next 12 hours.

Interested operators have to apply for an ‘amusement concession’ license for an as yet undetermined fee. The state gets an 86% chunk of net revenue – gross revenue minus taxes, winnings, salaries, airport fees and rent – or a minimal annual guarantee, whichever’s bigger. The state’s cut would go into an airport improvement fund.

The bill expressly does not authorize online gambling, electronic bingo or other forms of gambling. Slots it is and these slots will be limited to secure areas of the airport. No slots can be visible to airport passers-by and operators aren’t allowed to advertise their wares in Hawaii by any means. Presumably the designated area will be labeled as such on airport maps.

If passed (doubtful), the act would take effect on July 1. Hawaii and Utah are the last bastions of non-gambling in the United States but Evans said this was a “very unique and different” way to help the state’s aging airports, an “out of the box” proposal.

The Hawaii Tourism Authority (HTA) has already said it won’t support any gambling measure. The HTA issued a statement saying gambling “would not enhance our destination brand, but rather dilute it and distract from” the state’s traditional charms.

Evans has voted against previous gambling proposals but said this plan mainly targeted departing tourists and was therefore “not about gambling in Hawaii.” Evans told HawaiiNewsNow her bill would allow visitors to Hawaii “in their last few hours, spend their money in Hawaii and leave their money in Hawaii.”

Online gambling was a hot topic in Vietnam this week as Ho Chi Minh City police shut down an illegal gambling ring linked to online betting operator 12Bet. On Friday, police detained 10 people, including To Cong Hung, the owner of the Vietnamese version of gay lifestyle magazine Attitude.

Police say the ring operated a website that connected local gamblers with the Philippine-based 12Bet. Hung reportedly ran the website, while his sister and other agents controlled bank accounts through which money was collected from and distributed to gamblers. Police had monitored the site for months, during which time the operators handled over VND 1t (US $46.8m) in wagers.

Friday also saw police commence legal proceedings against 36 individuals arrested in July as part of the 2014 FIFA World Cup betting crackdown. This ring was linked to another Philippines-based site, M88.com, considered one of the predominant sites catering to Vietnamese punters. Before police swooped in, the site handled over VND 1.4t in wagers.

Also on Friday, police in Ba Ria Vung Tau province deported six South Korean nationals for operating an illegal betting site out of a rented villa in Vung Tau City. The operation catered not to locals but to gamblers in South Korea, who set up around 4k accounts with the site and wagered over KRW 20b ($18.6m) before police moved in on Wednesday.

Thanh Nien News reported that local police detected signs of illegality in the villa then took their findings to South Korean police, who confirmed the interaction with local gamblers. The arrested individuals claimed they had been dispatched to Vietnam by another Korean named Choi Hojun. Vietnam deported 33 other South Koreans for much the same activity last July.