Coming top in Macau really is about getting the punters through your door first, according to Australian media reports.
The Sunday Telegraph based in Sydney says ‘research’ (it doesn’t quote the source) shows that punters typically go to three casinos while they’re on a trip to Macau. Of the cash they’ve either brought with them (officially there’s a 20,000-yuan maximum currency allowance for those coming from Mainland China) or have borrowed locally (either from unofficial money lenders, pawn shops or legal betting agents), they blow half in the first casino. A further 30 percent is spent at the second and only 20 per cent at the third.
Given that many visitors arrive by ferry, that poses a special challenge for The Venetian and City of Dreams on Cotai, a 20-minute courtesy bus- or taxi-ride away from the main maritime terminal. That could lead to hot competition between the operators to get the punters safely on their buses for a crack at the golden 50.
Let’s hope Macau doesn’t experience its own version of the ‘curry wars’ experienced in downtown Hong Kong, where hawkers desperate to get diners to their particular establishment in a street full of budget restaurants, occasionally resort to fist fights on the pavement.