Macau grapples with ‘what the future looks like’ even as China’s reopened border deals a winning hand to casinos
- Macau’s casino are doubling down on the mass market, which has rewarded them handsomely
- City will ‘never go back to where we had been during the peak’, gaming expert says
It is midnight in Macau, and there is not an empty seat on the casino floor of the Grand Lisboa Hotel, the city’s most iconic landmark. Casino goers at the baccarat tables stare at their chips with undivided attention, while onlookers anxiously wait for the right moment to place their bets.
“This is my first time coming to Macau since Covid-19 hit,” said Luo, a mainland Chinese tourist from Foshan in his late fifties. “I’ve watched a lot of tutorial videos on Douyin to get gambling tips and prepare myself during the past few months. Now it’s time to try them out.”
Macau’s casino operators are going all out to capture China’s tourism wave after the reopening of its borders, and are doubling down on the mass market. So far, this play has rewarded them handsomely.
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What’s new in Macau: attractions that have opened in the city since the pandemic
The city lost its crown as the world’s largest gaming hub to Las Vegas last year, but is now on its way back. Macau’s gross gaming revenue in the first four months of this year amounted to US$6.2 billion, while the Las Vegas Strip Area generated US$2.2 billion in revenue during the first quarter of this year, government data shows.
