Learn Some Facts About Macau, The World’s Gambling Hotspot
26th Apr 2021, 8:41:34 AM
When asked to name the world’s gambling capital, many people would say Las Vegas. The desert city in the US state of Nevada has indeed been the world’s top gambling destination for many decades. However, it no longer wears the crown; Macau does instead.
We looked at Las Vegas in a previous post, but in this one we’ll be shining the spotlight on Macau. This special administrative region of China is home to the world’s largest gambling industry by far. Read on to learn more about this hotbed of gambling activity - some of the facts on this page may well surprise you!
Macau’s Gambling Industry
First thing’s first, we’ll talk about the size and scale of the region’s gambling industry. For want of a better word, it’s huge. In fact, it’s estimated to be three times bigger than that of Las Vegas.
If you’ve ever been to Vegas, you’ll be bowled over by the size of The Strip and the many extravagant casino resorts that line it. Macau doesn’t have as many casinos (over 40 compared to Vegas’ 130), but its casinos do generate a whole lot more revenue.
In 2019, nearly 40 million people descended on the region. Not everyone gambles, of course, but many of the tourists who visit do enjoy spending some of their hard-earned money on casino games while there.
Most of the visitors hail from mainland China, with many coming from other countries across Southeast Asia too. The reason so many Chinese people come here is that in mainland China, gambling isn’t legally per mitted.
The Largest Casino Resort
Macau is where you’ll find the second largest casino resort in the world: The Venetian Macao. Covering some 10.5 million square feet, this lavish and expansive resort is modelled after The Venetian Las Vegas and has a decadent Italian theme throughout.
This luxury resort, which is unsurprisingly very expensive to stay at, has 3,000 suites and over one and a half a million square feet of retail space. You could easily spend all day hitting the shops and buying some flash goods and keepsakes to take home with you.
As for the casino, it covers more than half a million square feet and has around 800 gaming tables, plus 3,400 slot machines. It’s safe to say that if you’re a fan of gambling, your every whim will be catered for while here.
The Cotai Strip
We’ve already mentioned The Strip - it’s a section of Las Vegas Boulevard lined with massive casino resorts, huge shops, popular restaurants and various entertainment offerings. It’s the beating heart of Vegas and is where tourists typically end up spending most of their time.
Over in Macau, efforts are being made to develop a ‘Strip’ that’s similar to the one in Vegas, but of a smaller size. A land reclamation project was enacted to expand Macau’s overall land mass. This involved two islands - Coloane and Taipa - being joined together. Stretching across these islands is The Cotai Strip.
There are nearly a dozen casino resorts that are considered to be part of the official Cotai Strip, with several more being planned. The company that’s predominantly behind this development is Las Vegas Sands. This company started in Vegas, though in recent years it’s been focusing on the fast-growing Asian gambling market.
Gambling Pays
Macau is a very wealthy place: it has the fifth highest average income and has been ranked the world’s second richest nation (when dividing gross domestic product by the number of permanent residents). There’s also the fact that the region’s gambling industry makes up approximately half of its economy.
A sign of the region’s economic success is that the government actually pays its citizens. The Wealth Partaking Scheme was set up so that residents could benefit from the region’s growth; it was also intended to reduce the effects of inflation.
Thanks to this scheme, those who are permanent residents receive in excess of $1,000 a year, while non-residents are entitled to just over half of that amount. It clearly pays to live somewhere with a thriving gambling industry!
Employment
Macau has a population of over 640,000 and there are some 58,000 people employed in the gambling industry. That works out at about 1/11, or 9%. The overwhelming majority (98%) of these workers are stationed at casinos.
The number of people employed in the gambling industry has been steadily increasing year-on-year. It went down in 2020, of course, thanks to the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic, though the region’s already rebounding and job roles are being filled once again.
Macau has weathered the pandemic remarkably well. It’s case and death numbers have been low and it’s successfully managed to open up its economy. Since most visitors come from mainland China, the region isn’t as reliant on international tourists as other places. Its economy isn’t exactly where it was pre-pandemic, but it’s on its way.