The centre of the gambling world has shifted 16 time zones away to a tiny spit of land on the southern tip of East Asia: Macau.
An hour’s ferry ride from Hong Kong, it is the only place in China where casino gambling is legal.
Each month, 2.5 million tourists flood the glitzy boomtown to try their luck in neon-drenched casinos that collect more winnings than the entire US gambling industry. The exploding ranks of the Chinese nouveau riche sip tea and speak in hushed tones as they play at baccarat, a fast-moving game where gamblers are dealt two cards and predict whether they will beat the banker.
The textile factories that stood shoulder to shoulder with small-time gambling halls as recently as the early 2000s have given way to hulking American-run enterprises larger than anything found in the states. The gangs, prostitutes and money-launderers that once operated openly in this town half the size of Manhattan have at least receded from public eye.
The Macau market is now larger than the entire US gaming market
“It was a swamp,” said Sheldon Adelson, chief executive of Las Vegas Sands, as he looked back on his early, risky venture in the forgotten colonial outpost.
“They wanted to change the face of Macau from the gambling dens to that of conventions and resorts,” he added during recent testimony, flashing a jack-o-lantern grin and boasting that it would have taken a genius to imagine the profits that he could reap there.