Macao to threaten Las Vegas as world's gambling capital

Globalysis, a research organization that studies the casino gaming industry, recently published a report that predicts Macao, China, may surpass Las Vegas in gambling revenues by the end of the year.

Las Vegas has been considered the gambling capital of the world since Bugsy Siegel opened the first casino there in 1946.


Macao is a tiny district located about an hour's boat ride away from Hong Kong in China. Despite its size, its casinos are expected to bring in more than $8 billion in revenues by 2007. Last year Las Vegas had $6 billion in revenues.

The report only deals with the Las Vegas casinos on the Strip. The total revenues for all of Las Vegas' casinos comes to $9.1 billion, which Globalysis projects will be broken by Macao by 2008.

The rapid projected growth is partly based on the fact that 25 new hotel and casinos are planned to be built during the next five years. One of the key investors in Macao that helped spur the original grown was the Las Vegas Sands Corp., a major Las Vegas casino company, which opened a Sands Macao in 2004. Gambling revenues in Macao rose by 44% after the opening in comparison to the previous year.

Macao only began developing its gambling industry in the last five years after Stanley Ho's 40-year monopoly of the industry came to an end with the support of the Chinese government. Since then, investments have been pouring into the area's casino industry.

courtesy of Sarah Polson

News Added: 23 August, 2006

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