October 26, 2006

Macau now the top gambling destination?

According to the Casino City Times and news channel Asia, it looks like we need to scedule a trip to China soon.

As reported by the Channel News Asia: "Macau has become the world's top gambling destination, analysts said Wednesday, after the latest earnings figures from the southern Chinese territory showed it had probably topped Las Vegas.

"The upbeat estimate was made after the tiny city posted figures early in the week showing casino revenue in September had soared 37 percent year-on-year to 576 million dollars.

"By the estimates of leading Vegas-based leisure industry consultancy Globalysis, Macau is just ahead of the cluster of casinos on Nevada's most famous boulevard.

"…Gambling earnings have boomed in Macau since 2001 when the government ended tycoon Stanley Ho's 40-year monopoly on casinos in the city and allowed foreign operators to move in.

"The result has been a sudden rush of up to 25 billion dollars of mostly American cash into the once-moribund century-old local industry.

"Growth has been fuelled by a similarly explosive rise in tourism from China, following the relaxation of travel restrictions from the mainland in the wake of the former Portuguese enclave's reversion to Chinese rule in 1999…"