Chinese Gamblers Sextuple Macau Revenues

Macau casino revenues continue to grow at an astounding rate, nearly as fast as the speed of a space rocket taking off at Cape Canaveral. The massive gains made at local casinos prove that every quarter.

The moment Macau was given near monopoly once China allowed legal gambling in former Portuguese colony, the fishing villages were transformed into Las Vegas-like strips of casinos. Under Chinese gambling laws, the huge Middle Kingdom of 1.4 billion people, doesn’t allow gambling except for Macau.

Effectively, this led to huge inflow of Chinese gamblers from the mainland, as well as nearby Hong Kong, to the tiny district. Additionally, Chinese authorities have given gambling permits to only a handful of casinos. That, for casino operators, was equivalent to being handled rich, untapped, and massive goldmines overnight.

As reported by online gambling news in China, Melco Crown Entertainment, a Macau-based casino operator, has seen its 2011 Q4 profit rise by 560% in comparison to a year before. The Q4 profits alone exceeded $100 million. What makes it easy for Melco is that it is only one of the six casino operators licensed in Macau.

This only encourages Melco to expand. Its latest plans include a new development of a massive $2 billion resort and casino complex to be completed within the next 3 years.

Other operators, such as Las Vegas Sands and Wynn Resorts, have also profited handsomely to a restricted access to a gambling monopoly in China. This will soon change as the Chinese authorities are giving a go-ahead to casinos on the island of Hainan.

As there are many other casinos that cannot tap the massive Chinese gambling market with land-based casinos, a viable option for them is to open up mobile casinos to attract a lion’s share of revenue.