|
 With a long history in gambling, Macau is nowadays considered the Asian capital of gambling. The gambling is legal in Macau since 1850, when the Portuguese government legalized it for the first time.
Macau was a Portuguese colony since 16th century when the traders coming from Portugal settled here. The small colony returned under Chinese administration in 1999, but joined Hong Kong as special administrative region of the People's Republic of China.
At first the gambling activity was concentrated only on Chinese games and is estimated that over 200 small casinos operated in the region in late 19th century. Once the administration was changed, the small colony opened to the western casino games as the new administration wanted to make the region profitable. In 2002 the first western casinos operators received the green light to open casinos in Macau. Today 16 casino operators carry out gambling activities in Macau. Official figures show that currently the gambling industry generates more than 40% of the entire Gross Domestic Product of Macau and 70% of the total government income is insured by the gambling taxes. Currently there are 33 casinos operating in Macau, from which the largest one is The Venetian Macau. The 40-story building with an area of 980,000 m² (10.5 million sq ft) is the fifth largest building in the world and also the largest casino worldwide. The casino area is about 51,000 m2 (550,000 sq ft) and has 3400 slot machines and 800 gambling tables. Most gamblers in Macau are Asian but the foreigners are more and more attracted by the new and larger Chinese version of “Las Vegas”. Many Las Vegas gambling operators built in Macau larger and more luxurious versions of their Las Vegas casinos. With all these brand new casinos and hotels, Macau overtook the old Las Vegas in gambling revenues in 2007 and with each year the things go from good to better. |
