Friday, July 30, 2004

Can Macau become the Las Vegas of Asia?

Gambling empire bets on rebranding

For almost 50 years, Stanley Ho had a monopoly on gambling in former Portugese colony, Macau - which lies just off the coast of Hong Kong.

Now that Macau has opened up gambling to the competition, the Las Vegas gambling empires, notably Steve Wynn, have moved onto the island in a bid to capture some of the money that the insatiable Asian market pumps into the only legal casinos in China.

Currently, 80% of all visitors come from Hong Kong, where punters can pick up a local ferry boat or take a short flight across to the island.

With the advent of the new market, the burden lies with Macau itself to improve its visibility to overseas players and get a piece of potential foreign tourism. Macau has everything it needs to attract visitors - in essence, it could be seen as a lower quality Monte Carlo but with just as many 'fat cats' and the added bonus of a ready-made calendar of arts, festivals and sports events (yes, there's even a Macau Grand Prix - albeit not Formula One, but it does attract some big names) - and now with the might of Vegas behind it, could see a boom in visitors and a potential goldmine as junket operators turn their attention to the businessmen that regularly visit Asia

More:
Macau: Soon to be Asia’s Las Vegas

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