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The tiny island of Macau has overtaken Las Vegas as the world's biggest earner of gambling revenue, according to the government of the Chinese province.Tourism there has nearly doubled since 2003 as the Chinese government has allowed free travel to the former Portuguese colony, a 28-square-kilometer enclave on China's southern tip, an hour's boat trip from nearby Hong Kong.
More than 10 million mainland Chinese flocked there last year, about half of all visitors. Though Macau's gross domestic product at $14 billion is less than 10 percent of the size of that of Hong Kong, the economy there has been growing at double-digit rates and should expand by another 16 percent this year and 16.5 percent in 2008, according to a forecast by Goldman Sachs, the Wall Street investment bank.
"The biggest risk for the economy is that it doesn't relieve these constraints fast enough," said Enoch Fung, associate economist at Goldman Sachs.
Macau is the only place in China where gambling is legal, as the Portuguese legalized such entertainment nearly 200 years ago.
Local tycoon Stanley Ho pioneered Western-style casinos after winning a monopoly concession in the 1960s.
The local media there are reporting that the casino industry will require 50,000 croupiers by 2009 -- nearly 10 percent of Macau's population.
"There's a lot of competition for labor," said Ooi Lay Peng, vice president of human resources at MGM Grand Macau, which is hiring 6,000 staff.
The opening of the five-star Wynn Macau casino resort last year brought in Chanel, Bulgari, Prada and other luxury retailers.
"Macau is attracting mainland Chinese who think they'll get rich by gambling. But in five to 10 years they'll know the risk of losing," said Kenneth Hsia, a businessman from Taiwan who visits Macau regularly.
"People go to Las Vegas for fun not to make money and, long term, Macau too will have to provide a lot more."
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