Macau, China: The New "Monte Carlo" of Asia

by Bodog Casino | Aug 7 2009

Times are tough in the United States right now, we all know that.

The jobless rate is still at 9.4 percent, people going ape over Health Care reform, and we have seemingly only slowed down the recession, not reverse it.

Oh and we owe billions (or is it trillions?) to China. Hopefully there's no interest on the loan they gave us.

That's right China seems to be our sugar daddy right now, taking the U.S.'s spot as an economic powerhouse. This is even apparent in the casino realm.

With a flourishing economy more and more casino owners are heading to Macau, China to open their own resort and casino. Casino billionaire Steve Wynn has been cashing in on the industry since opening the Wynn Macau in 2006, essentially a Chinese version of the Vegas resort.

But it's not just Wynn cashing in. There are almost three dozen casinos in the province and all are flourishing at an explosive rate.

Along with the U.S. recession you can also attribute this to the Chinese government's more positive stance on the gaming industry.

While the U.S. government tends to put a negative spin on gambling online and outside of Las Vegas and Atlantic City, the Chinese see it as another pastime like baseball or Twittering.

For that reason it's somewhat easier to be successful in China, although it wasn't always that way.

When the Macau casino industry popped off in 1962 it was operated under a government-issued monopoly license by Stanley Ho's Sociedade de Turismo e Diversoes (it's a company name, don't ask us to translate). They got wise to the money they could really make in 2002 and opened up the Macau casino industry to any owner who wanted to open their own resort. It's been nothing but a steady climb for their gambling industry ever since.

Along with the Wynn, a Macau version of the Venetian, the Sands, and MGM Grand have opened up as well. For that reason the Macau casino industry has taken over as the highest-volume gambling centre in the world.

So do we all have to leave the U.S. and start a new gaming lifestyle in Macau, China? No, not at all. But what China is teaching us is that the U.S. government needs to broaden it's stance on online and offline gambling in order to keep up with the competition in the East.