Inside Asian Gaming

INSIDE ASIAN GAMING | June 2010 6 W hen will Cotai, the wannabe extension to Macau’s traditional downtown gaming industry, really come of age? The moment could be as significant in Macau history as when the centre of gravity in Las Vegas entertainment shifted from the Downtown area to the Las Vegas Strip. Both the Cotai Strip and the Las Vegas Strip are essentially inventions of the human imagination rather than ‘real’ places. The latter was built out of desert not already conquered by Las Vegas’ creeping urban sprawl.The former was literally dredged from the waters of the Pearl River Delta—not so much terra incognita as terra ad absurdum. Both places set out to challenge the status quo of the existing traditional gaming zones in the world’s two most famous gambling cities because they have the space for the industry to grow outward not just upward. They have already provided integrated resorts—one stop shops for legal adult entertainment—everything you could ever need; fromgambling, hotel accommodation, restaurants, shopping, theatres, nightclubs and sports events, all under a single roof. And there’s a lot more to come—especially on Cotai. In late May, Sands China, the local unit of Las Vegas Sands Corp, announced a deal for a 30,000 square foot Playboy Mansion Macao as part of the company’s next phase of development on Cotai. That next phase, known as Parcels Five and Six, or ‘Cotai Five Cotai 2.0 Macau’s answer to the Las Vegas Strip enters a new phase Cover Story Cotai 5 and 6 and Six’ is currently scheduled to have a first phase opening in the third quarter of 2011, says Sands China. Toddler stage As to whether Cotai as a whole could currently be called a ‘mature’ tourism destination depends on how we define the term. One could argue that Macau itself isn’t yet a ‘mature’ gaming market, given that around 75% of its entire revenues are dependent on high roller baccarat. Last year the casinos on the predominantly mass- market Cotai Strip—The Venetian Macao, The Four Seasons and City of Dreams, the resort from the joint venture Melco Crown Entertainment (Nasdaq: MPEL), between them recorded gaming revenues of US$2.46