You’ve got to love the subhead for this Guardian look at Macau: “With mobsters jailed and foreign investors pouring money into its gaming industry, Macau is enjoying a spectacular boom .”
From the Guardian:
Michael Swing does not have to go back far to remember the bad old days in Macau, when Triad gangs were blowing up cars and spraying bullets at each other in shopping malls.
In between the gun battles of the late 1990s, he says, some of the most notorious mobsters were regular customers of the Casino Lisboa, of which he is regional manager. “Broken Tooth Ju was one of our high rollers. He was very well behaved. If he lost a lot, he would sometimes get angry and smash an ashtray. But that’s all. He never once threatened to kill any of our dealers.”Just five years ago, such tales fitted the worst stereotype of this former Portuguese colony, which was widely viewed as a centre of gambling, prostitution and money laundering, a playground for some of the world’s shiftiest tycoons; and a poor and sleazy cousin of nearby Hong Kong. But since it was handed back to Chinese rule in 1999, the territory has experienced one of the most spectacular bursts of economic growth in history and it is now aiming at a new reputation: the entertainment capital of Asia.
Under a $17bn (�8.8bn) plan unveiled yesterday by the Las Vegas mogul Sheldon Adelson, Macau will build a gambling strip on reclaimed land with seven casino hotels, 60,000 rooms, dozens of restaurants and waterways plied by gondolas.Under a $17bn (�8.8bn) plan unveiled yesterday by the Las Vegas mogul Sheldon Adelson, Macau will build a gambling strip on reclaimed land with seven casino hotels, 60,000 rooms, dozens of restaurants and waterways plied by gondolas.
The flagship will be a Venetian resort, similar to the one in Nevada, with 3,000 bedrooms, 585 gaming tables and 5,000 slot machines. “I had a dream one night. All of a sudden it came to me. There’s room there and demand to create Asia’s Las Vegas,” said Mr Adelson, one of the 20 richest men in the world.
Macau, which already generates 90% of its income from gambling, has hit the jackpot again. Thanks to the opening of the gaming industry to foreign investors and a relaxation of travel restrictions on the Chinese mainland, the territory is expected to overtake Las Vegas this year in terms of casino revenues.
For the past two years its economic growth of more than 25% has made even China look like a laggard. The statistics do not stop there. In the past 12 months, property values have jumped more than 50% and visitor numbers by 40%. Incomes are growing so quickly that its 430,000 residents are starting to think the once unthinkable: that they may one day be wealthier than people in Hong Kong.
What’s so seedy about gambling, anyway? The Brits seem to have no words to describe casinos except “seedy” and “sleazy.”