Las Vegas, Atlantic City and Macau combined make more money that many countries in the world, more money than the Bank of America and the Swiss Bank. Despite recent economic issues in the US, gambling has thrived, though not growing at the same rate. Let's take a look at them side by side.
Macau’s economy is based on tourism
and gambling, much like its counterparts in the US
– Las Vegas and Atlantic
City. These three places, combined generate more
revenue just from gambling than the total market cap of Bank of America and US
Bank combined, in fact they don’t even come close.
Here, we look at the key statistics at the “terrific three”
gambling hubs
Las Vegas---------
In Las Vegas has long been the world’s gambling hub. High
end casinos, unparalleled service and a large variety of entertainment options
have kept tourists coming back to Vegas year after year. Leading properties
include casinos run by MGM Mirage Inc., Harrah’s Entertainment Inc., Las Vegas
Sands Corp and the Wynn Resorts Ltd.
At close to $6.5 Billion in gambling revenues in Las Vegas
alone and $12 billion total in the state of Nevada which includes the city of
Reno, a smaller gambling hub, it is still arguably the world’s largets gambling
location, even though Macao has exceeded Las Vegas in the last year or so as
the world’s largest gambling hub.
Las Vegas
overall economy, which includes revenue from tourism, gambling, entertainment
and a host of other smaller businesses including conventions, revenue has been
increasing 6.5% year after year and is about $110 billion now and is expected
to reach $155 billion in 2012. No other location comes even close to that
number.
2008, however, has been slower than usual, primarily due to
the overall economic slowdown in the US
due to the subprime mortgage crisis.
Atlantic City
-------------
Atlantic City’s
has11 casinos and has been the second biggest gambling hub in the US
for several decades. Research studies however show that 2007 will be the first
year for the drop in revenue, because of the tough competition in the gambling
industry.
Many of the old casinos that were there in the Atlantic
city have been shut down.
The Trump Marina Hotel Casino had the biggest decline $11.8
million and recently Trump decided to sell this away as well. New casinos have
started coming up though and it is unclear at this time what the future of Atlantic
City would be.
Overall revenue casinos dropped 2.9% compared with 2006, but the decline in slots
revenue was even sharper at 7.2%. The smoking ban, State imposed additional
taxes, competition from casinos in neighboring states and the overall economic
slowdown contributed to the slowdown. Despite these losses, Atlantic
City generated $4.94 billion in gambling revenues in
2007, still a very strong number in the US.
With new casinos coming up and the closure of the old loss-generating ones, Atlantic
City seems to be poised for a comeback. Only time will
tell.
Macau
-----
Gambling revenue in the enclave totaled 55.9 billion patacas
in 2006, which includes lottery and racing revenues although the booming bulk
came from casino floor.
This may exceed the 6.2$billion generated by Las
Vegas strip. Gambling revenue in the enclave totaled
55.9 billion patacas ($6.95 billion) in 2006. VIPs related revenue was higher
but the mass market was slightly lower.
At the end of 2006, Macau had 24
casinos operating 2,762 gaming tables and 6,546 slot machines. In the beginning
of the year 2007, with the increase in the gambling revenue by 22% reaching US$
6.95 billion, Macau would have dethroned Las Vegas to emerge as the world’s #1
gambling destination.
The success story of Macau may be due
to the fact that the visitors from the nearby areas in mainland China
show more interest towards gambling compared to the Americans in Las
Vegas, whose people aren’t that interested in gambling
in general.
Macau, the only place in China
where the gambling is being made legal is within the reach of three billion
people which positions it well for further growth, much better than Las
Vegas and Atlantic City.
It is already the world’s largest gambling center by volume and may soon become
the largest by revenues as well.
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