Gambling in Macau, it is awesome!

For years Las Vegas was the gambling capital of the world. However, just like other parts of the economy, China is taking over! Today Macau is the biggest gambling city in the world. Still, it is not as famous as Las Vegas. Some people in the west don’t even know the city. In this article we will tell you some more about this beautiful city. We will tell you something about the interesting history, but we will also show you what the best casinos are. This way, you can see for yourself just how awesome Macau is. And if you want to go there, you will read here some helpful information, which can help you to pick the right casinos and hotels on your holiday!

The history of Macau

The history of gambling in Macau is actually very interesting. It was legalized in 1849 by the Portuguese government. The reason: they were in desperate need for more revenue. Therefore they created a licensing system. The fantan houses, these were the Chinese gambling houses, had to pay taxes in order to run their business. There were about 200 of these official gambling houses. In 1937 the Tai Heng company was granted a monopoly position on the gambling market. However, the company was very conservative. Therefore, they didn’t use the full potential of this market.

Everything changed in 1962. The government gave monopoly rights to STDM. This syndicate was formed by Honk Kong and Macau businessman. They made a lot of changes that improved the gambling conditions in the city. They introduced western gambling games, and made transportation between Hong Kong and Macau easier. This way, millions of gambling fanatics from Hong Kong visited Macau every year. The license expired in 2001.

In 1999, there was a major change. Macau became part of China. However, this didn’t affect the gambling environment. Only in 2002, there were some drastic changes being made. The monopoly system ended. At that moment, 3 companies were granted rights to operate casinos. Nowadays, there are 5 companies who have this right.

What are the best casinos in Macau?

Of course, when you are visiting Macau, you want to gamble. This is what the city is all about. But because it’s the gambling capital of the world, you have a lot of choices. It can be difficult to pick the right one. We will tell you here what some of the best casinos in Macau are. We will provide you with good arguments, and nice information. This way you can decide for yourself which casino you probably would like to visit.

The Venetian Casino Resort

If you want to go to the biggest casino resort worldwide, you should definitely visit the Venetian Casino Resort. It’s bigger than all the casinos in Las Vegas. And it is absolutely fabulous. It is situated at the Cotai Strip, and it has the vibe and feel of the famous Italian city Venetia. The casino is 39 stories high. It is the biggest building in the world, after 6 others. So, you can imagine that it’s huge. It’s the biggest one-building resort in China. Curiously enough, it’s not owned by Chines but by American businessman. This company, Las Vegas Sands, also has other resorts like ‘The Parisian Macao’ and ‘the Londoner Macao’. These resorts are also based on a big European city.

In the Venetian Casino resort you can find 3.000 suits. There is also 150.000 square meter where you can shop. Besides this, you have 110.000 square meter where parties and conferences take place. But, the most important things are of course the great casinos! The Venetian Casino Resort will not disappoint you. They have 800 tables and over 6.000 slot machines. There work 25.000 people in this great complex. This amounts to 5 percent of the population in Macau! A truly extraordinary figure. It also has a great hotel, that attracts customers from all over the world.    

The food and entertainment in The Venetian Casino Resort

If you build a casino based on an Italian city. You should, of course, also have nice meals. Italy is famous for their excellent cuisine! In The Venetian Casino Resort you can find more than 30 restaurants. You can literally eat anything that you can think of. There are restaurants that serve Italian food, but you can also get a lot of Asian dishes. Actually, you can get almost every internationally famous dish.

Especially the Golden Peacock restaurant is very good. They have earned a Michelin star. They cook all sorts of very tasty Indian food. The only thing that is missing in The Venetian Casino Resort are great bars and pubs. However, you can find them close by so this is not really a problem.

It is located at the Cotai strip, the most touristic place in Asia. You can find a lot of great clubs, but also all kinds of interesting shows. However, in the resort itself you can also experience great shows. You can watch art, but also spectacular light shows.

City of Dreams

The City of Dreams is the place to be if you are a fanatic gambler. They don’t have the nicely themed rooms like The Venetian Casino Resort, but they have a lot of other great things to offer. The gambling floor is truly great. You can find a lot of high rollers here. There are also Michelin restaurants, and luxury hotels. Furthermore, you can watch nice shows. It’s also very exclusive. It feels just like a James Bond movie.

Sands Macao

This was the first casino in Macao that was based on the appearance of casinos in Las Vegas. It is more casual than City of Dreams. There are live bands and you can get free drinks. There are a lot of different casino games that you can play. It’s near the ferry to Hong Kong, this is convenient if you want to go there for just one day. The downside, on Friday and Saturday night it can be really crowded with business man from Hong Kong.