MACAO, Aug. 29 (Xinhua) -- Las Vegas Sands, an international gaming giant, launched a 3,000-suite hotel resort here on Tuesday.

    The 2.4-billion-U.S. dollar Venetian Resort also features a 120,000-square meter exhibition and convention center, a 15,000-seat entertainment compound and a 1,800-seat theater.

    "The new resort is hopefully to boost the retail, restaurant and entertainment businesses in Macao," Sheldon Adelson, chairman of Las Vegas Sands, told the opening ceremony of the project.

    Las Vegas Sands launched its first gaming hut Sands Macao here in 2004, which currently boasts the world's number one casino by the yearly gross receipts.

    Macao, with a population of 520,000, has a 150-year history of gaming industry and is the only part of China where casino gaming is legitimate.

    Direct tax paid by the casinos dominates over 70 percent of the Macao Special Administrative Region government's yearly revenue.