LAS VEGAS (AP) — Attorneys told conflicting stories about the role that personal relationships and favors play in the Chinese gambling enclave of Macau during opening arguments Wednesday in a dispute between the Las Vegas Sands casino and a Hong Kong businessman.

Richard Suen claims he was hired by Sands to help build relationships with the Chinese government. The case turns on whether meetings Suen set up between Sands executives and Beijing officials in 2001 helped the company get a foothold in Macau, a special administrative region of China.