Macau casinos beat Las Vegas, rake in over $10 b in '07 revenues
Casinos in Macau raked in more than $10.3 bn in gaming revenue last year, the government said, a jump of 46% over the previous year as Las Vegas operators rushed to open luxury resorts targeting China’s newly wealthy.
By Agencies |
HONG KONG: Casinos in Macau raked in more than $10.3 billion in gaming revenue last year, the government said, a jump of 46% over the previous year as Las Vegas operators rushed to open luxury resorts targeting China’s newly wealthy. Macau, the only place in China where casino gambling is legal, overtook the Las Vegas Strip as the world’s top gambling centre in 2006. That year, its 24 casinos rang up $6.95 billion in gambling revenue, while the Strip made $6.69 billion, regulators said.
The former Portuguese territory with the addition of four new casinos last year is now rivalling the entire US state of Nevada in gaming revenue, according to figures posted on the website of Macau’s Gaming Inspection and Coordination Bureau.
Nevada reported gaming revenues of $12.7 billion for the year to November 30, 2007, according to the state’s Gaming Control Board. Openings in Macau last year included the massive $2.4 billion Venetian Macao resort, operated by billionaire Sheldon Adelson’s Las Vegas Sands, and the MGM Grand, a JV between MGM Mirage and Pansy Ho, a daughter of local tycoon Stanley Ho.
Stanley Ho held a monopoly on casinos in Macau until 2004, when the government handed out gaming licenses to three other players. He still dominates, owning 18 of the territory’s 28 casinos. More than half of last year’s gaming revenue, or about $6.9 billion, was made on the high-stakes baccarat tables reserved for high rollers, government data showed. High rollers are gamblers that typically spend at least half a million patacas ($62,000) on casino betting on each trip to the territory, according to analysts and casino industry executives.
Macau, an hour by high-speed ferry west of Hong Kong, returned to Chinese rule in 1999, two years after Hong Kong did.
The former Portuguese territory with the addition of four new casinos last year is now rivalling the entire US state of Nevada in gaming revenue, according to figures posted on the website of Macau’s Gaming Inspection and Coordination Bureau.
Nevada reported gaming revenues of $12.7 billion for the year to November 30, 2007, according to the state’s Gaming Control Board. Openings in Macau last year included the massive $2.4 billion Venetian Macao resort, operated by billionaire Sheldon Adelson’s Las Vegas Sands, and the MGM Grand, a JV between MGM Mirage and Pansy Ho, a daughter of local tycoon Stanley Ho.
Stanley Ho held a monopoly on casinos in Macau until 2004, when the government handed out gaming licenses to three other players. He still dominates, owning 18 of the territory’s 28 casinos. More than half of last year’s gaming revenue, or about $6.9 billion, was made on the high-stakes baccarat tables reserved for high rollers, government data showed. High rollers are gamblers that typically spend at least half a million patacas ($62,000) on casino betting on each trip to the territory, according to analysts and casino industry executives.
Macau, an hour by high-speed ferry west of Hong Kong, returned to Chinese rule in 1999, two years after Hong Kong did.
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