In this week’s Green Felt , I consider how Las Vegas might just have a few lessons for Macau after all: Once those architects began planning resorts, however, it became apparent that Asia was not Las Vegas, and that what worked so well here for the previous generation—large slot parlors with table-gaming cores—was not at […]
What Macau Can Learn from Las Vegas | Vegas Seven Read More »
Vegas SevenIf you don’t see a video, go here: http://youtu.be/sxWHmPafsGc
Author David G. Schwartz summarizes chapter 16, “All In: Gambling’s Global Spread,” of Roll the Bones: The History of Gambling (Casino Edition).
This chapter includes the background of casino gambling in a number of nations, including China (Macau), Singapore, Malaysia, South Korea, North Korea, the Philippines, Australia, Canada, South Africa, Germany, Great Britain, and more.
For more information about the book, visit http://www.rollthebonesbook.com
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Asia, videoI’ve been wanting to write more about Macau, which is such a huge gambling story, for a while, and when given a feature slot for Vegas Seven, jumped on the chance to talk about Macau’s impact on Las Vegas. The result is this week’s cover story: Back in the early days—2006 or so—American executives signing
The History of Our Future | Vegas Seven Read More »
Vegas SevenAmong Stanley Ho’s possessions in Macau (in addition to his many casinos) is the Macau Tower Convention and Entertainment Center, which at the time of its construction was the tenth-highest tower in the world.
You can learn more about Stanley Ho’s career in Roll the Bones: The History of Gambling.
Go here to read an excerpt from the book, or learn where to buy your copy.
When it opened in 1952, the Sands casino was known as “A Place in the Sun,” and once it signed Frank Sinatra, Sammy Davis Jr., and Dean Martin as entertainers, it became the most popular casino on the Las Vegas Strip.
Today, the Sands name lives on in Las Vegas Sands, Inc., the company that owns the Venetian, Palazzo, and Sands Expo Center on the Strip as well as casinos in Pennsylvania, Macau, and Singapore.
As a result, the Sands name is found in the world’s top three gambling markets—a fitting tribute to the place where Vegas got much of its magic back in the 1950s and 1960s.
You can read more about the Sands and other Las Vegas hotels in Roll the Bones: The History of Gambling.
Go here to read an excerpt from the book, or learn where to buy your copy.
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fromthebook, life in vegasI’ve got a new piece in the Las Vegas Business Press about how Las Vegas is going to have to adjust to no longer being number one in gaming: In June, Macau casinos took in about $2.6 billion in revenues, an increase of more than 50 percent from the previous year. This achievement highlights the
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Las Vegas Business PressI’ve got a pretty lengthy piece of the differing evolution of gaming regulations and transparency in gaming in Nevada, Macau, and Singapore in the latest Global Gaming Business Magazine: Today, gaming is a truly global industry. Casino gaming, which was once a small-scale business confined to a limited number of jurisdictions, has blossomed into a
Gaming Regulations Evolving in Global Gaming Business Read More »
writingIn case you missed it, I posted a piece yesterday on Two Way Hard Three talking about Wynn Resorts and China: In today’s flurry of email headlines (which continue whether I’m in the office or not) I read a blurb saying that Wynn Resorts “has become”; a Chinese company. Certainly this is no surprise to
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news about gambling, Two Way Hard ThreeMy latest column in the Las Vegas Business Press is now available. In it, I consider Governor Sandoval’s recent call for modernization in Nevada’s gaming regulations: In his State of the State address, Nevada Gov. Brian Sandoval briefly noted the necessity of updating the state’s gaming regulations to reflect the new realities of 21st century
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Las Vegas Business Press, news about gambling, writingWe know that Macau had a blockbuster 2010, more than doubling the revenue of Nevada’s 329 non-restricted gaming locations with its 33 casinos. According to two CLSA analysts, 2011 will be an even better year for the SAR. From Bloomberg: Casino revenue in Macau, the world’s biggest gambling hub, may climb 30 percent to $30
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news about gamblingThis story’s only tangentially about gambling, but it’s interesting in a quirky sort of way. From the Malaysian Star: A Malaysian maid working in Hong Kong has reportedly won over HK$30mil RM12mil in a local lottery, China Press reported.The middle-aged woman is a helper at the mansion of Angela Leong, the fourth wife of casino
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gambling & cultureIf you want, you can take a sneak peek at the latest jurisdictional gaming summary I’ve done at the Center for Gaming Research, Macau: http://gaming.unlv.edu/abstract/macau.html I’m still honing it, so any suggestions are appreciated.
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news about gambling, what's newI’ve got a new Las Vegas Business Press column up, in which I discuss the historical context behind Wynn’s musings about moving to Macau. Steve Wynn made headlines when he suggested he might consider moving the headquarters of Wynn Resorts Ltd. to Macau from Las Vegas. As always, Wynn's forthrightness points the way to a
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news about gamblingMy piece in the Las Vegas Business Press about the beginning of the end in Atlantic City is out: Historians have taken the date 476 A.D. and the deposition of Romulus Augustus, the last Roman emperor, as the “official” date of the fall of the Roman Empire, even though at the time most Western Europeans
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atlantic city, news about gamblingChecking the headlines in the AC Press as of 2PM Pacific time, I couldn’t find a word about the seemingly-momentous decision of MGM Mirage to sell its stake in Borgata. This is curious, since you would think that having one of the biggest casino companies in the world, which at one point had billions of
AC to “get its act together” Read More »
atlantic city, news about gamblingFor a while, the Big Story was how hot Las Vegas was. Then it was Macau: The Next Generation. Now that Vegas has cooled off a bit and Macau’s hitting a plateau, we’ve got a new story: Macau is in dire straits. Even Time has picked it up: But in the wake of the faltering
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news about gamblingIf you’re not totally Macau-ed to death by the coverage of the Venetian Macau’s opening, here’s a great summary of what the big deal is. From the Economist: Its construction involved filling in the sea between two of Macau’s islands to recreate the Las Vegas strip, and then carefully cutting out tiny canals to provide
Venetian Macau is big, but Macau is bigger Read More »
news about gamblingInteresting summary of the current state of Macau from Fortune, via CNN: Hunter S. Thompson would have found much to fear and loathe in Macau, the former Portuguese colony rebranding itself as a gambling paradise. The good doctor (rest his soul) would have been vexed to discover that Macau, surrounded by water and crowded immigration
It earns more in gaming revenue than the Strip, at least. It was either this or a post on Stanley Ho’s medical issues, and I honestly can’t think of anyway to properly blog on that one. From news.com.au: MACAU says it has overtaken the Las Vegas Strip as the world’s biggest casino draw, raking in
Macau confirms: it’s bigger than Vegas Read More »
news about gamblingI’ll get some interesting Google hits from that headline, I’m sure. In any event, Stanley Ho has opened his new casino, the Grand Lisboa. It’s next to his old flagship, the Casino Lisboa, and is dressed to impress. From the Washington Post: Thousands of gamblers on Sunday jammed into a new casino owned by a