For years, Macau has been the only place to gamble legally in a casino in Southeast Asia. And for equally as long, gambling in Macau has been controlled by Stanley Ho, who ruled over his string of casinos with an iron fist. That is until 1999, when former owner Portugal turned the enclave over to the China. At that point, all bets were off and China opened up the market to western companies to help grow the city.

After a lengthy bidding process, the Chinese government in 2002 chose three (and later six) concession holders: Sociedade de Jogos de Macau (controlled by Stanley Ho), Wynn Resorts, Las Vegas Sands, Galaxy Casino, the partnership of Pansy Ho (Stanley’s daughter) and MGM, and the partnership of Melco (a company controlled by Lawrence Ho, Stanley’s son) and PBL. Las Vegas Sands opened Sands Macao in 2004, ushering in the new era for Macanese gaming.

Today, Macau is the boomtown of gaming. Revenues in the city already surpass that of the Las Vegas Strip and should, within a few years, gain the top spot over the entire state of Nevada.

There are two major areas in Macau for casinos. One is the established, downtown area, which includes such properties as Stanley Ho’s Lisboa, which was the flagship of his empire until he opened the new Grand Lisboa next door. Wynn Macau is just one block away and Galaxy’s StarWorld next to that. The MGM Mirage-Pansy Ho partnership, the MGM Grand Macau, is also in this area.

The second area is Cotai, a former wetland that was filled in. This is where the Cotai Strip is located (a term coined and trademarked by Sheldon Adelson, the chairman of LVS), and where other major casino projects will be located. Wynn also owns land in this area, earmarked for the company’s second resort.

While many gaming analysts refer to Macau as the Las Vegas of Asia, it is more like Atlantic City than anywhere else. The average stay of a visitor to Macau is less than 24 hours, with gambling the chief activity of almost all visitors.

With the opening of Venetian Macao, that dynamic is about to change. Like the Venetian and its affiliated hotels, the Galaxy Group has announced that it will build nine hotels associated with its GalaxyWorld resort, next to the Venetian in the Cotai section of Macau. The Melco-PBJ joint venture, the City of Dreams, is also under way there. And the Macau Studio City project will include several separate hotels, including a Hard Rock Hotel.

Many Nevada gaming executives have found a home in Macau, operating some of the largest existing properties and leading the development of the others. Macau is the “brave new world” of the gaming industry.

By Roger Gros

Roger Gros is publisher of Casino Connection and editor and publisher of Global Gaming Business magazine, the industry’s leading gaming trade publication. Prior to joining Global Gaming Business, Gros was president of Inlet Communications, an independent consulting firm. He was vice president of Casino Journal Publishing Group from 1984-2000, and held virtually every editorial title during his tenure. Gros was editor of Casino Journal, the National Gaming Summary and the Atlantic City Insider, and was the founding editor of Casino Player magazine. He was a co-founder of the American Gaming Summit and the Southern Gaming Summit conferences and trade shows. He is the author of the best-selling book, How to Win at Casino Gambling (Carlton Books, 1995), now in its third edition. Gros was named “Businessman of the Year” for 1998 by the Greater Atlantic City Chamber of Commerce.

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