Australia's Crown Resorts will not proceed with an 1,100 room hotel and casino project on the Las Vegas strip, and selling half its stake in Macau-focused Melco Crown Entertainment Ltd.

Crown, which is majority-owned by billionaire James Packer, did not give too much in the way of an explanation why it is giving up on the Alon project, which marked the company's third attempt to establish itself in the US gambling Mecca.  The first collapsed and the second was written off last year.

"I don't think there was really anyone out there who was enthusiastic about them going back in to Vegas and so pulling out is the smart thing to do," said Theo Mass, a partner at Arnhem Investment Management which holds Crown shares.  "The market is not convinced Crown would make a difference there."

The partnership with Wynn casinos is described as "shovel ready", and Wynn will likely seek a new investor to replace Crown.

Easier to explain is Crown's abandonment of Macau.  The company is still reeling after the arrests of 18 of its staffers in China on so-called "gambling charges".  On top of that, gaming revenue in Macau has declined every month for more than two years.

The Macau sale will raise AU$1.6 Billion in cash that Crown says will be used to cut debt and pay a special dividend of AU$500 Million.  James Packer will get more than half of that.