Doors open at Macao's megacasino
Macao, the former Portuguese enclave on the southeastern tip of China, took a giant step toward becoming the Las Vegas of Asia with yesterday's opening of the world's biggest casino.
Macao, the former Portuguese enclave on the southeastern tip of China, took a giant step toward becoming the Las Vegas of Asia with yesterday's opening of the world's biggest casino.
The $2.4 billion Venetian Macao Resort Hotel is the centerpiece of a $12 billion "integrated resort" development - the first Las Vegas-style megacasino on a sliver of reclaimed land called the Cotai Strip.
"It is all systems go," said Ray Dougherty, a West Philadelphia native and director of casino operations for the Venetian Macao. Mark Brown, the president of the resort and its sister casino, Sands Macao, previously worked in key positions at the Trump casinos in Atlantic City.
Dougherty said the 546,000-square-foot gambling floor - three times the size of Las Vegas' biggest gaming palace, the MGM Grand - officially opened at 7:18 p.m. Macao time, which was picked by a "feng shui master" as the "perfect time" to begin gambling at the world's biggest casino.
Las Vegas Sands Corp., the U.S. gambling company financing the Venetian Macao and that opened the Sands Macao in May 2004, is making a huge bet that Chinese patrons, who have demonstrated a voracious appetite for gambling, will make Macao the gaming-retail-entertainment and convention capital of the Far East.
The footprint of the casino resort can fit 63 American football fields.
Once fully developed, the Venetian Macao will offer 20,000 hotel rooms under eight brands, including a Four Seasons and a Shangri-la, and provide 1.2 million square feet of convention and meeting space. On the entertainment side, a 15,000-seat arena will play host to a series of world-class sporting events, including NBA China Games and professional tennis.
"It's the first time that anybody has had the vision to develop the most mature integrated resort complex in the world," said Las Vegas Sands chairman and chief executive officer Sheldon Adelson. Las Vegas Sands is also building a $3.5 billion casino in Singapore.
Gambling experts expect the Venetian Macao to draw Asian high rollers who typically go to Las Vegas, particularly over the Chinese New Year. But experts do not expect much of an impact on casinos in Atlantic City, which is now the world's third-largest gambling resort.
Adelson, who is credited with bringing midweek conventions to Las Vegas, said he ultimately planned to cross-market the Venetian brands in Las Vegas, Macao and Singapore for convention packages.
About 130 of the 360 retail shops in the cavernous shopping mall have opened, according to Dougherty, as well as 25 of 42 restaurants.
Wall Street analysts are bullish on the new casino.
"Near term, we expect the Venetian will lift gaming revenues, as did Sands and Wynn," said Karen Tang, a gambling analyst with Deutsche Bank AG, who is based in Hong Kong. "Longer term, we see the Venetian as the beginning of Macao's evolution from a pure gambling town into a convention and holiday destination."
The casino's project director, Keith Buckley, said the Venetian Macao's construction schedule was compressed from 48 months to 30 months to meet yesterday's opening.
For a slide show, audio and in-depth report on the gambling boom in Macao go to