Macau "Vegas East"
Macau is becoming Vegas East, and in a hurry. Torrents of visitors from the Chinese mainland are streaming onto the island and digging deep once they reach the gaming tables. Visits from the mainland doubled in just two years, between 2002 and 2004, Xinhuanet reported. In 2005 alone, there were almost 12 million visitors on the island, and 4.24 million of them came from the mainland, according to William Weidner, president and CEO of the Las Vegas Sands Corporation, which owns the Sands and the Venetian.
"The opportunity of the region is nothing short of fantastic," continues Mr. Weidner. "Macau is on the verge of becoming the world's top revenue-producing gaming market. Travel to Macau has increased explosively in recent years, and every indication is that these numbers will continue to rise. With more than 3 billion people within a five-hour flight, Macau is poised to become the gaming and leisure destination of choice for a significant part of the world's population." Macau is perfectly located for the wealthiest denizens of the world's fastest-growing economies to come visit and spend. China's Gross Domestic Product, for example, skyrocketed from $422 billion in 1993 to over $1.4 trillion in 2003.
A sort of perfect economic storm is turning Macau into the hottest new gambling spot on the planet. Macau is just over 25 square miles, and that is not big. The entire island is just 0.1 times the size of Washington D.C., according to the CIA's web site. But those few miles are all prime real estate because of their unique location and history.
The island was colonized by the Portuguese in the 16th century, the first European settlement in the Far East. Then, in 1987, the Portuguese handed the keys to their island back to the Chinese, who promised to allow the island a high degree of autonomy and freedom from China's economic system. So now Macau is the only place within reach of Mainland China with legalized gambling.
While the Sands was the first sign of Western culture's return to the island and the first American-owned casino in Macau, Macau is about to get a lot more crowded. Other American casino moguls have noticed that the little island off the coast of China is the new hot spot for gambling. Steve Wynn has announced plans for a $705 million casino (that will not offer poker), and a Venetian, complete with canals, gondolas, and those singing gondoliers, is also slated for Macau.
Newsweek reported that Las Vegas tycoon Sheldon Adelson also has big plans for the little island. He wants to build a 120-acre, $10 billion strip of 20 huge casino-resorts, each with up to 3,000 rooms, to be run by huge Western chains such as Hilton and Marriott. The Venetian will be the anchor resort. And where blockbuster casinos go, poker is sure to follow. For his part, Wynn told Newsweek that Macau "is the most exciting thing I've done. Here I am in my 60s, and I am on the edge of China, the most exciting market. My company, Wynn Resorts, will be making most of its money in China." That's no bluff coming from a man who just opened the most opulent casino and resort on the Vegas strip. And as Macau develops along the lines of Western casinos, poker's popularity is sure to spread as well. The World Poker Tour already hopscotches around the world, making stops everywhere from Aruba to Paris to Costa Rica. Why not pay a visit to Macau?
While the casino's grand plans get underway, Macao's gaming continues rampantly every night. For now, before the conquering Western casinos arrive, the scene is still a little "early Vegas." It's not fully corporate. The gaming scene is still in its infancy, with shady characters and a seedy underside. Macau has yet to get Vegas's high-gloss corporate makeover. But with the casinos' arrival imminent, the explosion of every thing, from restaurants to flashy entertainment and everything else that makes Vegas such a good time, is sure to follow. And Western gamers, including poker players, are sure to follow as well.