‘An Empty Shell of What It Used to Be’: Asia’s Gambling Mecca Gets a China-Backed Makeover

The popular Kotai strip still lit, and once many hotels and casinos had entered and exited. At present, many tables are vacant in the world's gambling center Macau, and in some casinos, all sections are completely closed due to poor business.

This transformation has changed the life of Macau residents. The 3 3-yea r-old Groove Quock has not been a regular job for several months. He has analyzed customer interests by a company that gains a VIP gaming room in the city for seven years, earning about $ 40, 000 (about 5, 000 yen) per month. However, last December, the company announced that it would immediately suspend work through WeChat. "It was unexpected," he said.

Kuok has been working in some par t-time jobs, but now goes to IT Linem to make a job outlook in the more and more miserable local labor market. Others in order to contain their younger brother and mother in search of other areas in the Gratar Bay Area, a growing urban area in the southern China, which consists of nine major cities in Guangdong, Hong Kong, and Macau. As many people have already been in the past year, he is thinking of leaving Macau.

On October 20, a London casino empty gambling table at Kotai Strape Resort in Macau. Eduardo LEAL-AFP/Getty Images

Civid 19 has influenced the world's economy, especially the economies of tourism. Macau is a popular spot for gambling, commonly known as the Higashi Las Vegas, and in 2019, about 39 million people, including the Chinese high tribes, visited. However, the strict measures in Beijing on the Immigration, which crossed the pandemic borders, led to the fact that the number of tourists in Macau was only 5 or 8 million in 2020, half-China Autonomous Region for gambling. The new effort to diversify the economy did not help him to recover.

Gambling accounts for 80 % of Macau's tax revenue, but due to the pursuit of China's "coefficient zero" policy and the inexplicable management of the local gambling industry, local residents and experts have lost their pandemic Macau. I am worried that it is. < SPAN> Popular Kotai Strip still lit, and once many hotels and casinos had entered and exited. At present, many tables are vacant in the world's gambling center Macau, and in some casinos, all sections are completely closed due to poor business.

Gambling is in Macau’s ‘DNA’

This transformation has changed the life of Macau residents. The 3 3-yea r-old Groove Quock has not been a regular job for several months. He has analyzed customer interests by a company that gains a VIP gaming room in the city for seven years, earning about $ 40, 000 (about 5, 000 yen) per month. However, last December, the company announced that it would immediately suspend work through WeChat. "It was unexpected," he said.

Kuok has been working in some par t-time jobs, but now goes to IT Linem to make a job outlook in the more and more miserable local labor market. Others in order to contain their younger brother and mother in search of other areas in the Gratar Bay Area, a growing urban area in the southern China, which consists of nine major cities in Guangdong, Hong Kong, and Macau. As many people have already been in the past year, he is thinking of leaving Macau.

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On October 20, a London casino empty gambling table at Kotai Strape Resort in Macau. Eduardo LEAL-AFP/Getty Images

Civid 19 has influenced the world's economy, especially the economies of tourism. Macau is a popular spot for gambling, commonly known as the Higashi Las Vegas, and in 2019, about 39 million people, including the Chinese high tribes, visited. However, the strict measures in Beijing on the Immigration, which crossed the pandemic borders, led to the fact that the number of tourists in Macau was only 5 or 8 million in 2020, half-China Autonomous Region for gambling. The new effort to diversify the economy did not help him to recover.

Gambling accounts for 80 % of Macau's tax revenue, but due to the pursuit of China's "coefficient zero" policy and the inexplicable management of the local gambling industry, local residents and experts have lost their pandemic Macau. I am worried that it is. The popular Kotai strip still lit, and once many hotels and casinos had entered and exited. At present, many tables are vacant in the world's gambling center Macau, and in some casinos, all sections are completely closed due to poor business.

This transformation has changed the life of Macau residents. The 3 3-yea r-old Groove Quock has not been a regular job for several months. He has analyzed customer interests by a company that gains a VIP gaming room in the city for seven years, earning about $ 40, 000 (about 5, 000 yen) per month. However, last December, the company announced that it would immediately suspend work through WeChat. "It was unexpected," he said.

Kuok has been working in some par t-time jobs, but now goes to IT Linem to make a job outlook in the more and more miserable local labor market. Others in order to contain their younger brother and mother in search of other areas in the Gratar Bay Area, a growing urban area in the southern China, which consists of nine major cities in Guangdong, Hong Kong, and Macau. As many people have already been in the past year, he is thinking of leaving Macau.

On October 20, a london casino empty gambling table at Kotai Strap Resort in Macau. Eduardo LEAL-AFP/Getty Images

Civid 19 has influenced the world's economy, especially the economies of tourism. Macau is a popular spot for gambling, commonly known as the Higashi Las Vegas, and in 2019, about 39 million people, including the Chinese high tribes, visited. However, the strict measures in Beijing on the Immigration, which crossed the pandemic borders, led to the fact that the number of tourists in Macau was only 5 or 8 million in 2020, half-China Autonomous Region for gambling. New efforts to diversify the economy did not help him to recover.

Gambling accounts for 80 % of Macau's tax revenue, but due to the pursuit of China's "coefficient zero" policy and the inexplicable management of the local gambling industry, local residents and experts have lost their pandemic Macau. I am worried that it is.

Macau, which occupies an area ten times smaller than Las Vegas Square (32 square kilometers) and has a population of only 680. 000, will make 6 times more revenue than Moscow American gambling city during the pandemic. In 2019, it brought in $36 billion. Currently, the industry makes $300 million each month, compared to $659 million in Las Vegas.

Economic diversification faces long odds

The history of gambling in the former Portuguese colony began in the 16th century, when the metropolis was created as a trading post. Chinese immigrant workers gambled for comfort, and makeshift booths using fans were set up on the streets of the city. In 1847, gambling became so popular among the workers that the Portuguese government in Macau officially legalized gambling and deducted profits from taxes.

Then, in 1999, Portugal returned Macau to China, and Macau gambling companies inherited the boom. In 2002, Metropolis opened its private gambling section, opening a bazaar for interracial businesses such as Sands MGM, Wynn, and Las Vegas. By 2006, Macau was the worst in the world in gambling markets.

But aside from the profits from this range, it relies on Chinese betting supporters. Metropolis VIP players generate more than 43% of the section's profits thanks to middlemen who facilitate gambling for luxury Chinese players. Junket-operators have every chance to bust everything from buyers' beautiful homes and trips to offering gaming credits.

Gambling has been officially banned on the mainland since 1949, but not in Macau. No doubt this precedent has helped shape Macau's cultural identity, and it also complicates its dealings with Beijing. Macau's pure coffee house model remained untouched until late 2012, when Xi Jinping became Chinese president. The Xi Jinping government launched a tough campaign to eradicate corruption and cut off casino pinch-hunting. Gambling profits fell.

In 2020, the SI began implementing "universal welfare," a vague political principle of egalitarianism used to determine how the nation's lavish people spend and squander their money. With gambling draining 1 trillion yuan ($147 billion) from the Chinese economy, restricting access to Macau was only a matter of time.

Last November, police arrested Elvin Chau, a major junket operator for Suncity Group Holdings, on 200 charges of illegally operating casinos, money laundering and leading a crime syndicate. According to a warrant obtained by the Financial Times, Chau was arrested for "seriously harming the country's social leaders."

The future of Asia’s gambling Mecca

Hao Zhidun, a doctoral student at the Macau Institute who writes about the situation and culture in Macau, said Chau's arrest "affects how gambling is conducted every time," as it is a huge business.

Chau's seizure came shortly after the Macau government proposed tightening gambling laws. Since then, the Macau government has banned all pure-drinking rooms in casinos. It also doubled the validity of licenses issued to casino operators from 20 years to 10 years and called for investment in initiatives unrelated to gambling, namely green technology, money and pleasure.

The result was a decline in the workforce and injuries to non-resident workers, who typically make up a fifth of the region.

"The gambling business had been in Macau for a long time, until 1849..." he says, according to a Macau-based gambling magazine. "And when they were deprived of this," he says, "Macau was, openly, reduced to an empty shell of what it was before."

China has long been inspired by Macau and has tried to complete its gambling-only credit and disperse its own interests, but there are a certain number of points on this path.

For example, Macau has no space to place new businesses, given its limited area. In September 2021, China proposed 106 square kilometers of land in Hangxing, a peninsula located behind the river, more than three times the size of Macau, for the comprehensive formation and management of Macau and Beijing. It is expected to give an interpretation of investment in areas unrelated to the gambling business (which is prohibited in Macau), namely meta-sector technology and classical Chinese medicine (TCM).

Aerial view of buildings (top) and residential areas (bottom) in Macau's new Hanshin district, Aug. 17, 2021. Chen Shuming-VCG/Getty images Last November, police arrested Elvin Chau, a major junket operator for Suncity Group Holdings, on 200 charges of illegally operating casinos, money laundering and leading a crime syndicate. According to a warrant obtained by the Financial Times, Chau was arrested for "seriously harming the country's social leaders."

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• Chau's seizure came shortly after the Macau government proposed tightening gambling laws. The Macau government has since banned all pure-coffee rooms in casinos. He also doubled the validity of licenses issued to casino operators from 20 to 10 years and called for investment in non-gambling endeavors, namely green technology, money and pleasure.
• "The gambling business has been in Macau for a long time, until 1849..." says a Macau-based gambling magazine. "And when they were taken away, Macau was openly reduced to an empty shell of what it was before," he says.
• For example, Macau has no space to place new businesses, given its limited area. In September 2021, China proposed 106 square kilometers of land in Hanshen, a peninsula more than three times the size of Macau and located behind the river, for the comprehensive formation and management of Macau and Beijing. It hopes to give interpretation of investment in areas unrelated to the gambling business (banned in Macau), namely meta-sector technology and classical Chinese medicine (TCM).
• Hao Zhidun, a doctoral candidate at the Macau Institute who writes about the situation and culture of Macau, said Chau's arrest was a huge business, as it "always affected how gambling is conducted."
• The result was a decline in the workforce, to the detriment of non-resident workers, who usually make up a fifth of the area.
• China has long been inspired by Macau, trying to complete its gambling-only credit and decentralize its own interests, but there are a certain number of points on this path.
• Aerial view of buildings (above) and residential areas (below) in Macau's new Hanshen district, August 17, 2021. Chen Shuming-VCG/Getty images
• Authorities want to attract the interests of "hig h-class" overseas "hig h-class" experts, and they will definitely help Macau can advance to other fields that are not related to the gambling industry. There is. According to the investment residential program, foreign experts can apply for a macau if there is a possibility of contributing to the diversification of regional branches and strengthening competitiveness. However, in 2021, only one was approved in 33 orders for "managers or technical positions."