Macau Plans To Beat Las Vegas To Gambling Upswing After Recession

Macau had already started to be thought of as the leader in the casino gambling industry before the global recession began. They had passed Las Vegas as the gambling capital of the world, and it was not even really a close battle.

Then two things happened that gave Vegas hope that they would once again climb to the top of the casino mountain. First, the Chinese government slowed the influx of Chinese residents from the mainland to Macau, and second, the global economy crashed.

"When the Chinese government started tightening the restrictions for residents to go to Macau, it became apparent that Macau was not going to keep up their torrid revenue pace," said observer Barry Grubel, "but now, it looks like the economy in the US will keep Macau on top for a while."

Both gambling destinations have experienced drops in revenue in recent months, but Macau casinos have not fallen as hard. They still have the Chinese visitors to keep revenue figures afloat.

Las Vegas, however, is in some financial trouble. The casino there have been having a hard time finding people in the US that can spend freely on gambling trips. The Chinese visitors that used to be prevalent in Las Vegas, now go to Macau.

"We've seen better than expected performance in the overall gaming market in Macau," said Gabriel Chan, an analyst for Credit Suisse, "Vegas is still suffering and will take a longer time to recover, but in Macau, we are starting to see the light at the end of the tunnel."

The Macau market is hoping that Chinese travel restrictions will once again be loosened. If that happens, the Chinese residents will be free to spend some of the $586 billion stimulus package that has been approved.

May 27, 2009
Posted By April Gardner
Staff Editor, CasinoGamblingWeb.com
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