ApparentRaceTraitor
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Anyone know any casino revenue managers from Macau? I'd be very interested in picking their brains for a school dissertation.
Do you have any questions about Macau?
- Thread starter Snomannen
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ahfatzia
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MGM China to build new $2.5 bn Macau casino
Casino giant MGM China Holdings said Thursday it has received approval to build a new HK$20 billion ($2.5 billion) giant gaming resort in the world's biggest gambling hub of Macau.
The firm, a tie-up between Las Vegas-based MGM Resorts International and Pansy Ho, daughter of Macau gambling tycoon Stanley Ho, said in a statement the approval came after it signed a land concession deal with the government.
The new resort, to be built on a 71,833-square-metre (17.8 acre) site on the Cotai Strip, which houses rival casinos including Sands China, will feature 1,600 hotel rooms, 500 gaming tables and 2,500 slot machines.
MGM China Holdings said construction is expected to take three years.
The announcement of the new casino project highlights intense competition for the former Portuguese colony's gaming sector, despite the fact that gaming revenue growth has fallen from the stunning highs of the past three years as China's economic boom slows.
Official statistics showed Macau's gambling revenue in September increased 12 percent year-on-year to 23.87 billion patacas ($2.99 billion). The city posted a 42 percent rise in gambling revenue in 2011 compared to 2010.
Semi-autonomous Macau, the only part of China where casino gambling is legal, overtook Las Vegas as the world's gaming capital in terms of revenue after the sector was opened up to foreign competition in 2002.
Six firms are licensed to operate casinos in Macau, which was handed back to Beijing in 1999.
http://www.bangkokpost.com/news/world/317672/mgm-china-to-build-new-2-5-bn-macau-casino
Casino giant MGM China Holdings said Thursday it has received approval to build a new HK$20 billion ($2.5 billion) giant gaming resort in the world's biggest gambling hub of Macau.
The firm, a tie-up between Las Vegas-based MGM Resorts International and Pansy Ho, daughter of Macau gambling tycoon Stanley Ho, said in a statement the approval came after it signed a land concession deal with the government.
The new resort, to be built on a 71,833-square-metre (17.8 acre) site on the Cotai Strip, which houses rival casinos including Sands China, will feature 1,600 hotel rooms, 500 gaming tables and 2,500 slot machines.
MGM China Holdings said construction is expected to take three years.
The announcement of the new casino project highlights intense competition for the former Portuguese colony's gaming sector, despite the fact that gaming revenue growth has fallen from the stunning highs of the past three years as China's economic boom slows.
Official statistics showed Macau's gambling revenue in September increased 12 percent year-on-year to 23.87 billion patacas ($2.99 billion). The city posted a 42 percent rise in gambling revenue in 2011 compared to 2010.
Semi-autonomous Macau, the only part of China where casino gambling is legal, overtook Las Vegas as the world's gaming capital in terms of revenue after the sector was opened up to foreign competition in 2002.
Six firms are licensed to operate casinos in Macau, which was handed back to Beijing in 1999.
http://www.bangkokpost.com/news/world/317672/mgm-china-to-build-new-2-5-bn-macau-casino
ahfatzia
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One public hospital, 36 casinos: Macau's skewed bet on prosperity
(Reuters) - A short walk from billionaire Stanley Ho's extravagant Grand Lisboa casino stands the faded pink exterior of the Conde S. Januário, Macau's only public hospital.
Inside, bathroom tiles are stained and paint peels off the walls along the corridors where patients queue to be examined by busy medical staff. The hospital, built in the 1980s, serves the former Portuguese colony's more than half a million residents.
A new hospital is planned, but won't open until 2019. By then, Macau is expected to have added another six glitzy casinos to the three dozen that already make it the world's betting capital, as Las Vegas mogul Steve Wynn and others continue to bet on the only place where Chinese can legally gamble.
Life in Macau, a southern Chinese enclave one third of the size of Manhattan, is geared to gambling, which brings in revenue of more than $33 billion and accounts for more than 40 percent of GDP. There are more than four times as many gambling tables per 1,000 residents than hospital beds.
To many who live in what is both the world's most densely populated territory and fastest growing economy, the priorities are all wrong.
"It's unacceptable. These facilities are a joke. This is the main hospital in Macau," said Simon, who has lived in Macau for five years and works in the hotel industry, as he wheeled his toddler up and down in a narrow car park waiting for his wife.
Macau last year attracted 28 million visitors - more than the population of Australia - and while the gambling industry has boosted general living standards over the past decade, residents say the development of social infrastructure, including healthcare and transport, has lagged behind.
CLOGGED ARTERIES
A fleet of nearly 2,400 brightly colored casino buses shuttles visitors who commute en masse, stretching Macau's overburdened transport network, causing gridlocked streets and an increase in traffic accidents. This month, one Macau legislator pressed for a limit on the number of shuttle buses. A driverless light rail transit network is in the works, but isn't expected to be up and running until at least 2015.
Property prices have risen by half since last year, industry data show, and surging food prices mean daily groceries for Macau locals cost close to double what people pay in Hong Kong, the international financial hub an hour's ferry-ride away.
"I do see the inequality and the property price increases. Most importantly, I see the inequality gap is widening more and more compared to two years ago," said Larry So, a Macau-based political analyst.
Thousands of Macau residents have taken to the streets this month to call for more welfare measures, more public housing and more action to check inflation. Macau does also have a private hospital, a university hospital and several health clinics.
In comparison, greater Las Vegas, Macau's main rival as a gambling hub, has roughly the same population, more than 150 casinos and at least 15 hospitals with at least 90 beds or more.
HAND-OUTS NOT ENOUGH
Macau's government routinely gives residents annual "wealth share" cash handouts, raising this year's allowance to 7,000 patacas ($877), to try to stem public discontent. Last week, the government approved measures to tackle the overheated property market, but industry watchers say it is unlikely to bring down prices to affordable levels.
Juliet Risdon, director at JML Property in Macau, said that despite new housing supply such as the 19,000 subsidized home-ownership and social housing units due to be ready by the end of the year, overall new property supply was relatively short.
"I think it's very disappointing as a long-term resident of Macau, for my friends and colleagues here, that they are continually in a position where they cannot buy property," she said, adding that potential residents were frustrated about the small size of the new units and the exorbitant one-off cost of a car park berth, which has hit 1 million patacas (around $125,000) near one of the new low-cost housing developments.
The quality of housing is also under scrutiny, with some 200 residents evacuated from their apartment in the north of Macau's peninsula earlier this month after cracks appeared on the walls of the 30-storey structure.
HOOKED ON GAMBLING
Macau's transition from tranquil fishing village to casino boomtown has seen dependence on the gambling industry grow despite the government's efforts at diversification, said Jose Pereira Coutinho, a Portuguese legislator in Macau who heads the Civil Servants Association.
"There is no diversification of industry. We are too much dependable on gambling, so if something happens in mainland China, something bad, like SARS (Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome) and people stop coming over to Macau, then the economy is in a mess," he said.
Small and mid-sized businesses struggle to survive, with many forced into bankruptcy in recent years, while others grapple with rising rents and skill shortages as graduates head straight to the casino industry where salaries are more than double.
Bobo Chan, a 26-year-old Macau university graduate, stopped working in the Sands Macau casino last year after she felt unable to cope with the lengthy overnight shifts in VIP rooms and the smoke-filled environment.
Chan, who now works for the Civil Servants Association, said that while she was able to switch industry, both her parents still work at the Sands Macau casino, with her mother on shifts from 8 p.m. until 4 a.m. most nights. While new casinos create opportunities for young people, Chan said the government is too focused on using gambling revenues to benefit Macau.
"There are already so many casinos in Macau. I think they had better put the money in education. I remember many years ago people came to relax, but now so many mainlanders come to Macau just to gamble," she said.
The social implications are taking their toll on residents, too, with local media reporting a 30 percent increase in the number of those seeking treatment for mental health problems in the past few years.
Some hope a change of leadership in China will help shift the political agenda in Macau.
"Let's hope when Xi Jinping becomes president something changes here in Macau. I don't know ... I hope so," said Coutinho, referring to the man widely touted as China's next leader.
(Additional reporting by Yimou Lee; Editing by Ian Geoghegan)
One public hospital, 36 casinos: Macau's skewed bet on prosperity | Reuters
Indeed the Macau government got its priority all wrong! Never forget, a government's first responsibility is to its people, everything else come in second. A government who has grand dreams of tall buildings and fancy accomplishments are run by a bunch of selfish egotistic politicians, if not corrupted.
(Reuters) - A short walk from billionaire Stanley Ho's extravagant Grand Lisboa casino stands the faded pink exterior of the Conde S. Januário, Macau's only public hospital.
Inside, bathroom tiles are stained and paint peels off the walls along the corridors where patients queue to be examined by busy medical staff. The hospital, built in the 1980s, serves the former Portuguese colony's more than half a million residents.
A new hospital is planned, but won't open until 2019. By then, Macau is expected to have added another six glitzy casinos to the three dozen that already make it the world's betting capital, as Las Vegas mogul Steve Wynn and others continue to bet on the only place where Chinese can legally gamble.
Life in Macau, a southern Chinese enclave one third of the size of Manhattan, is geared to gambling, which brings in revenue of more than $33 billion and accounts for more than 40 percent of GDP. There are more than four times as many gambling tables per 1,000 residents than hospital beds.
To many who live in what is both the world's most densely populated territory and fastest growing economy, the priorities are all wrong.
"It's unacceptable. These facilities are a joke. This is the main hospital in Macau," said Simon, who has lived in Macau for five years and works in the hotel industry, as he wheeled his toddler up and down in a narrow car park waiting for his wife.
Macau last year attracted 28 million visitors - more than the population of Australia - and while the gambling industry has boosted general living standards over the past decade, residents say the development of social infrastructure, including healthcare and transport, has lagged behind.
CLOGGED ARTERIES
A fleet of nearly 2,400 brightly colored casino buses shuttles visitors who commute en masse, stretching Macau's overburdened transport network, causing gridlocked streets and an increase in traffic accidents. This month, one Macau legislator pressed for a limit on the number of shuttle buses. A driverless light rail transit network is in the works, but isn't expected to be up and running until at least 2015.
Property prices have risen by half since last year, industry data show, and surging food prices mean daily groceries for Macau locals cost close to double what people pay in Hong Kong, the international financial hub an hour's ferry-ride away.
"I do see the inequality and the property price increases. Most importantly, I see the inequality gap is widening more and more compared to two years ago," said Larry So, a Macau-based political analyst.
Thousands of Macau residents have taken to the streets this month to call for more welfare measures, more public housing and more action to check inflation. Macau does also have a private hospital, a university hospital and several health clinics.
In comparison, greater Las Vegas, Macau's main rival as a gambling hub, has roughly the same population, more than 150 casinos and at least 15 hospitals with at least 90 beds or more.
HAND-OUTS NOT ENOUGH
Macau's government routinely gives residents annual "wealth share" cash handouts, raising this year's allowance to 7,000 patacas ($877), to try to stem public discontent. Last week, the government approved measures to tackle the overheated property market, but industry watchers say it is unlikely to bring down prices to affordable levels.
Juliet Risdon, director at JML Property in Macau, said that despite new housing supply such as the 19,000 subsidized home-ownership and social housing units due to be ready by the end of the year, overall new property supply was relatively short.
"I think it's very disappointing as a long-term resident of Macau, for my friends and colleagues here, that they are continually in a position where they cannot buy property," she said, adding that potential residents were frustrated about the small size of the new units and the exorbitant one-off cost of a car park berth, which has hit 1 million patacas (around $125,000) near one of the new low-cost housing developments.
The quality of housing is also under scrutiny, with some 200 residents evacuated from their apartment in the north of Macau's peninsula earlier this month after cracks appeared on the walls of the 30-storey structure.
HOOKED ON GAMBLING
Macau's transition from tranquil fishing village to casino boomtown has seen dependence on the gambling industry grow despite the government's efforts at diversification, said Jose Pereira Coutinho, a Portuguese legislator in Macau who heads the Civil Servants Association.
"There is no diversification of industry. We are too much dependable on gambling, so if something happens in mainland China, something bad, like SARS (Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome) and people stop coming over to Macau, then the economy is in a mess," he said.
Small and mid-sized businesses struggle to survive, with many forced into bankruptcy in recent years, while others grapple with rising rents and skill shortages as graduates head straight to the casino industry where salaries are more than double.
Bobo Chan, a 26-year-old Macau university graduate, stopped working in the Sands Macau casino last year after she felt unable to cope with the lengthy overnight shifts in VIP rooms and the smoke-filled environment.
Chan, who now works for the Civil Servants Association, said that while she was able to switch industry, both her parents still work at the Sands Macau casino, with her mother on shifts from 8 p.m. until 4 a.m. most nights. While new casinos create opportunities for young people, Chan said the government is too focused on using gambling revenues to benefit Macau.
"There are already so many casinos in Macau. I think they had better put the money in education. I remember many years ago people came to relax, but now so many mainlanders come to Macau just to gamble," she said.
The social implications are taking their toll on residents, too, with local media reporting a 30 percent increase in the number of those seeking treatment for mental health problems in the past few years.
Some hope a change of leadership in China will help shift the political agenda in Macau.
"Let's hope when Xi Jinping becomes president something changes here in Macau. I don't know ... I hope so," said Coutinho, referring to the man widely touted as China's next leader.
(Additional reporting by Yimou Lee; Editing by Ian Geoghegan)
One public hospital, 36 casinos: Macau's skewed bet on prosperity | Reuters
Indeed the Macau government got its priority all wrong! Never forget, a government's first responsibility is to its people, everything else come in second. A government who has grand dreams of tall buildings and fancy accomplishments are run by a bunch of selfish egotistic politicians, if not corrupted.
shuttler
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This reporter and reuters suck! the report failed to give any highlight of some important figures: patients / hospital bed; patient/doctor; no of private doctors etc, which are crucial to the evaluation of the health care service
Macau is a small enclave which is home to half a million people. it is a barren land which has little natural resources. When the portugese was ruling Macau, similar to the mentality of colonial goverments, their homeland interest took precedence over the welfare of the local people. It was not the portugese's long term interest to develop Macau.
Macau is going to celebrate its 13th birthday soon. Though the report has indicated some sub-par performance on the part of the government, the quality of life of Macau is much better than many countries in the world.
Its per capita GDP, life expectancy are among the best, great financial SURPLUSE y-o-y; Other social services like education, amenities, infrastructure etc are well taken care of.
It will further improve the quality of life there after the Central Government's approval of its expansion into Hengqin.
Well done Macau and keep up with the good works!
Snomannen
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I found some valuable old picture of Macau where Macaenese demonstrated against the oppressions of the Macau Portuguese Authorities. I don't know the exact year but assume it was 1967 when Hong Kong also had its riots.
Lucky the PLA didn't crush in.
ahfatzia
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A simple map of Macau. Please notice Cotai District is a reclaim land, where all the casinos and modern hotels are located, that connects Taipa and Coloane to form one land mass.
The original Border Gate with modern infrastructure c2004, China's on the background
The only other crossing to China, located in Cotai
A view of Macau Peninsula, where most of the locals live, looking south
Taipa Old Bridge c1974, connects Macau Peninsula and Taipa
The Friendship Bridge c1994
西灣大橋 c2004
Macau International Airport locates off Cotai
The original Border Gate with modern infrastructure c2004, China's on the background
The only other crossing to China, located in Cotai
A view of Macau Peninsula, where most of the locals live, looking south
Taipa Old Bridge c1974, connects Macau Peninsula and Taipa
The Friendship Bridge c1994
西灣大橋 c2004
Macau International Airport locates off Cotai
ahfatzia
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I'm curious on that too, I guess we'll have to wait for the resident sage, KiroAirship, to shred some light on the matter.
ahfatzia
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Guia Hill with Guia Fortress on left side of the hill c1600s. The fortress was a defense against Chinese invasion
The light house of the Guia Fortress, originally built in 1600s and since reconstructed multiple times
Original fort structures and cannons
The original walls of the fort
The outside of the wall
Between walls
A national park today
The light house of the Guia Fortress, originally built in 1600s and since reconstructed multiple times
Original fort structures and cannons
The original walls of the fort
The outside of the wall
Between walls
A national park today
INDIC
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During Portuguese rule constructing temple was not allowed in Portuguese colonies in India. They initiated an Inquisition in Goa. In South India they persecuted Christians of Orthdox Church(non-Catholic) during their short rule.
