Las Vegas Chinatown Steals Back Macau Gamblers
Macau is pirating Las Vegas highrollers, but Vegas is hijacking middle-class Macau gamblers.
Fiercer than the upcoming Pacquaio vs. Morales boxing match, Macau vs. Las Vegas rages on as the gambling bout of the year. The world’s two busiest casino gambling destinations have been battling over Asian and Chinese highrollers, who bet big and bring in money, but no one’s forgotten about middle-class Asian and Chinese casino gamblers, who wager often and bring in money.
Newsflash: Las Vegas is reeling in Macau’s non-highrollers by developing Chinatown.
Competition heated up with this year’s forecast that Macau casinos will supercede Las Vegas gambling revenue by 2007. The deciding factor has been highrollers, known for betting in the several thousands per hand on gambling games like baccarat and blackjack. Apparently, they are regular gamblers on the Las Vegas Strip who are now being drawn to its Asian version, the Cotai Strip in Macau.
Las Vegas Strip casino hotels like Wynn, The Venetian, and MGM Grand are long the favored venues of highrollers. The same casino operators are now branching out to Asia, counting on brand loyalty to keep gamblers playing with them. That is, when in Macau, highrollers are hoped to choose playing at Wynn Macau, Sands Macau, The Venetian Macau, and MGM Grand Macau, as those are familiar and trusted names.
With both casino gambling capitals caught up in their song-and-dance contest over highrollers, the middle-class gambling sector had been uninvolved. No longer: Las Vegas Chinatown is about to be developed as a new draw to the countless middle-class Chinese tourists pouring into Sin City yearly.
Dragon City Hotel and Resort is a newly proposed development at Las Vegas Chinatown, near Spring Mountain and Wynn roads, promising a 28-story hotel and 70,000-sqft casino. Notably, it will offer 500,000 sqft of retail space, including a whopping 50 restaurants. Fifty.
The insight is quite Asian – the continent is home to a variety of cultures and cuisines, and food is very much a part of daily enjoyment for all these peoples. Dragon City wants to serve Chinese, Japanese, Thai, Korean, and other Asian food to make each of them feel at home.
The idea of shaping Las Vegas Chinatown into an Asian melting pot is big. Pulled off smartly, it would mean a Las Vegas casino gambling district, other than the Strip, where Asians of various races exchange notes on baccarat to pachinko to Chinese poker strategy. And because practically every country in Asia has a lucrative gambling culture, it is another Ace up Vegas’ sleeve against Macau.
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November 16th, 2006 at 3:42 am
Wow, this rivalry is huge and who is going to take control of the gamblers. This is a great article and the information will help many people who want to know about this business. Thank you.
November 17th, 2006 at 4:40 am
true, Chinatown can spell a big difference, lengthen the race distance again between Las Vegas and runnerup Macau. but it’s going to take a few years, at least, to develop the area into something as must-visit as the Vegas Strip. and time is what there isn’t much of for Vegas now — as they say Macau will be #1 next year. so, i am waiting for 2007 to see who’s got the bigger cojones.
December 18th, 2006 at 5:21 pm
I am looking for soe information regarding your hotel
August 22nd, 2010 at 2:22 pm
i find asian foods to be a bit spicy compared to italian foods’.’