Is Macau the Gambling Capital of the World?
A small Chinese territory near Hong Kong, Macau’s gambling industry has grown exponentially in the past few decades.
Nightlife in Macau. Trey Ratcliff. CC BY-NC-SA 2.0
Macau is a former Portuguese Colony located next to Hong Kong. It was considered a Special Administrative Region of China since 1999, which means that it has different laws than mainland China. For example, gambling in China is illegal everywhere except Macau, allowing it to climb the ranks and become the gambling capital in the world. The actual city isn’t very large in terms of size, but with its numerous casinos and hotels for its gambling tourists, it has become extremely wealthy. Its population size (roughly 650,000) is small compared to the size of its tourism industry, but the GDP per capita is extremely high, which is why it is considered so rich. As Chinese millionaires continuously travel to Macau trying to become even richer, money keeps coming into the gambling industry. As Chineses economy grows, the more millionaires come to gamble, the more money the casinos earn. The city’s taxes on gambling make up around 70% of the government’s revenue, so the more money being exchanged, the richer Macau becomes. Despite all this, many of the city’s residents are struggling. While the casinos and the richest people thrive off the rampant gambling, many of the casino workers and their families aren’t as well off. A lot of the government’s money goes back to investing in the casinos rather than helping the poor.
In the gambling world, Macau is often called the “Las Vegas” of China, but that is not quite the case. Beyond the casinos, Vegas has a focus on shows and performances, while Macau focuses more so on gambling. As such, even if someone doesn’t want to take risks with their money, they will still have large, sparkling shows in Vegas, whereas in Macau, people can go to museums and attractions to explore the culture when not in casinos.
People in Macau. Kevin Jaako. CC BY-NC 2.0.
In 2021, Macau had 42 casinos running. Like the ones in Vegas, some casinos in Macau are based off of some Western places and take inspiration from Vegas itself. For example, much like the Venetian in Vegas, there is a Venetian Macau that dwarfs the one in the States. It is the world’s biggest casino and the seventh largest building in the world in terms of floor area. There are 640 gaming tables, 1760 slot machines, 3000 suites for guests and over 30 restaurants there alone. The Parisian Macau, much like the Paris-themed part of Vegas, has an Eiffel Tower replica and many other French-themed decorations. Another interesting casino in Macau is the MGM Cotai, designed to look like a jewelry box. Just like that implies, it has one of the largest art collections in the city with over 300 pieces of contemporary art. The collection combines both Eastern and Western art, as well as tradition and technology, making it even more intriguing. The actual casino inside, however, only takes up around 10% of the space inside the building, though it does have 177 gaming tables and 1500 slot machines. In 2019 before the COVID-19 pandemic, Macau reached 20.64 million tourists, whereas Vegas regularly receives roughly 40 million visitors per year. Despite this, since the amount of money exchanged in is much greater, Macau is considered the gambling capital. BeforeIn 2019, before the pandemic, Macau earned $36 billion in gaming revenue. Vegas’ had a record of $1.23 billion in 2021, far less than Macau’s earnings before the pandemic, and the Vegas Strip didn’t even break 1 billion pre pandemic.
Looking at the games played in all the casinos, the most popular game in this city isn’t poker, blackjack or roulette; it’s baccarat. These games are also played with much higher stakes and with much more intensity. Wealthy people, mostly from China and all over East Asia, bet such large amounts of money that the games here have the highest stakes in the world, hence why it is considered the gambling capital. This part of Macau’s gambling culture goes beyond wealthy people having a lot of money to spend on gambling. In the west, people tend to see gambling as a fun but risky game. Chinese players see it as a financial opportunity. They hold their cards much tighter so that there are no chances of someone else leaning back and sneaking in a quick peak at their cards. This is an investment, an opportunity to get more money to be more financially stable, not a leisure activity. It’s extremely common to have hundreds of dollars exchanged within a couple of hands from the average person, not even from the high rollers.
Though impressive, it’s because of all this that Macau suffered a lot from the COVID-19 pandemic. Almost their entire economy is based off of tourism, and when people stopped traveling, the city was hit with many losses. With China’s zero-COVID protocol, foreigners have not been allowed to travel into the city. The city survived with only Chinese tourists, but with COVID-19 slipping into the country anyway, Macau’s tourism and gambling industry has started falling apart once more. South Asian countries like Cambodia, the Philippines, Singapore, and Vietnam have been attempting to take over the gambling scene in Asia, which means that the Chinese territory will be struggling even more to regain its title as the gambling capital of the world.
Katherine Lim is an undergraduate student at Vassar College studying English literature and Italian. She loves both reading and writing, and she hopes to pursue both in the future. With a passion for travel and nature, she wants to experience more of the world and everything it has to offer.