Since the Chinese president launched his anti-corruption campaign in 2014, high rollers have become rarer around traditional gaming tables – particularly baccarat tables – in Macau casinos.
It must be said that Xi Jinping does not joke about corruption and has gone to great lengths to arrest party leaders who have allegedly abused bribes and other benefits.
Macau casinos have seen their gaming revenues plummet. While revenues have rebounded after 26 months of decline (+1.1%), Macau’s gambling establishments are not yet claiming victory.
Lui Che-woo: Optimistic about the future of casinos
Lui Che-woo is the founder and chairman of Galaxy Entertainment . This group owns several land-based casinos in Macau, including Galaxy Macau, Broadway Macau, City Clubs (Waldo Casino, President Casino, and Rio Casino) and the Starworld Hotel. Suffice it to say, Lui Che-woo is very popular in Macau and is a big man… a big man, in fact, with his fortune estimated at $8.2 billion.
At 87, Lui Che-woo is optimistic about the future of Macau’s casinos thanks to mass tourism. Indeed, even though high-rollers try not to attract too much attention from Chinese authorities by spending fortunes at roulette, blackjack, and especially baccarat (baccarat is the most popular game in Macau casinos), this businessman is banking on the mass influx of tourists.
Indeed, given that Macau remains the only place where Chinese people can play casino games, there’s still a bright future for gaming establishments in terms of revenue. Moreover, this doesn’t take into account the millions of tourists from outside China who descend on this Asian gambling capital each year.
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New casinos and omnipresent entertainment
Lui Che-woo is well-known in the Macau gambling world and has faced serious competition since Macau was handed over to China from Portugal in 1999. New gambling establishments have recently been built, such as the Melco Crown Group’s Studio City, the Wynn Palace and the Las Vegas Sands’ Parisian Macao .
Three new land-based casinos are gaining market share. These new casinos offer not only casino games but also hotels, shows, restaurants, and other attractions designed to attract entire families, not just table and card game enthusiasts.
Macau must copy the Las Vegas casino concept by offering a host of activities to ensure that entertainment is omnipresent. Luxury boutiques, children’s entertainment, shows, water parks, and more are all designed to attract entire families, particularly from the Chinese middle class. Thus, according to the president of Galaxy Entertainment, mass tourism should offset the decline in high-roller players. These players can spend millions of dollars at a gaming table in a single evening.
Obviously, the ideal for Macau casinos would be to see as many VIP players again (they have greatly contributed since 2002 to overtaking Las Vegas casinos – Editor’s note) and to welcome more mass tourists to see the numbers explode.
But for that to happen, China’s anti-corruption policies would have to weaken, and that’s not a given.
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