Macau is tops in gambling

MACAU — What happens in Vegas now happens in Macau. The former Portuguese colony, once a seedy sideshow to nearby Hong Kong, has overtaken Las Vegas as the world's No. 1 gambling market.

From January through November, Macau casinos took in $6.485 billion from slots and table games, beating the Vegas strip's $6.079 billion, according to Macau's Statistics and Census Service and the Nevada Gaming Control Board. Full 2006 numbers won't be out for weeks, but Kareem Jalal, editor of Inside Asian Gaming, says Macau probably widened its lead in December.

Macau draws millions of visitors from mainland China, a booming economy with a population of 1.3 billion people, who can't legally bet at home. "Anything that's prohibited is interesting," says Loh Jian-ping, visiting from the Chinese city Guangzhou, before heading into a casino.

Macau won't hurt Las Vegas, Jalal says. "If anything, it could help Vegas," he says. Casino companies operating in both places — such as Wynn Resorts — "will bring people here and say, 'If you want the real shebang, visit our casino in Vegas,"' he says.

Las Vegas operators, including Wynn Resorts, Sands Las Vegas and MGM Grand, drive Macau's emergence. Until 2002, Macau gambling was a monopoly: Tycoon Stanley Ho's smoky casinos catered to hard-core Chinese gamblers playing blackjack and baccarat.

Macau, a city of 450,000, was notorious for prostitution and gang battles. Crime has dropped since Portugal returned its colony to China in 1999.

U.S. casino giants foresee an Asian version of Vegas, where visitors come for conventions, shows and shopping. Sands opened on the Macau waterfront in 2004 and earned back its $260 million investment in less than a year. This summer, Sands will open the 3,000-room, 350-shop, $1.8 billion Venetian hotel, casino and shopping complex, the first of many family- and convention-friendly developments.

Wynn Macau opened in September, targeting high rollers. "We're the high-end place," Chairman Stephen Wynn says.

"Look at the pie," says Mark Brown, Sands Macau president. "There are 3 billion people in a (travel) radius around Macau."