Macau Officially Surpasses Las Vegas as World Gambling Capital

Stanley Ho, the man with the former monopoly on Macau casinos, had complications in the hospital this week from rectum surgery. His current wife announced that he will be perfectly okay, and he should be, as today Macau government officials revealed that the 22 casinos on their strip pulled in more than $7 billion in revenue in 2006.

In October the projections were that Macau would take over Las Vegas as the most profitable gambling city in the world, today those projections became official facts. Las Vegas only pulled in $6.6 billion last year, $400 million less than the young new gambling capital in China.

Stanley Ho had a monopoly on Macau casinos until 2002 when the China government opened up the area to outside investors. Since then Ho has maintained many of the casinos in the area, but the gambling strip has been open to the likes of Steve Wynn and Sheldon Adelson who came and built monstrous, and glamorous, hotel and casinos which has caused an explosion in the industry.

The Sands Corporation will open the Venetian Macau later this year. That hotel & casino will be a 3000 room luxury complex that will also feature fine dining and top-end retail. The new Venetian will be the centerpiece of the Cotai Strip.

"This once again showcases that Macau continues to have an upward trajectory of tourism activity being led by the casino gaming industry," analyst Jonathon Galaviz, a partner of Las Vegas-based Globalysis, said.

Globalysis tracks world gaming and travel trends.

"And ... Macau's combination of GDP growth and casino revenue growth is continuing to be driven by significant growth in disposable income of mainland Chinese citizens," he said.



2007-04-03