An article about Macau on BBC.com

Maybe Menkes should try his fancy poker tricks in Macau casinos.

Tiny Macau overtakes Vegas Strip

Foreign gaming firms are investing billions of dollars in MacauMacau, a tiny special administrative region of China, appears to have overtaken the famous Las Vegas Strip as the world's top gambling destination.

Macau is set to earn $6.8bn (£3.6bn) in casino revenues in 2006 compared with Las Vegas' $6.6bn, say leisure industry consultants Globalysis. Foreign casino operators entered Macau in 2001, two years after Portugal handed the territory back to China. Tourists have flocked, 10.5 million arriving from China alone in 2005. Macau's 23rd casino, Star World, is opening this week, and billions more dollars are due to be invested in new hotels, casinos and entertainment venues over the next few years. Up until liberalisation, Macau's casino industry was controlled by Stanley Ho's Sociedade de Jogos de Macau.

Expansion plans

Now global gaming giants including Wynn Resorts, MGM Mirage, Publishing and Broadcasting and Galaxy Casino are building or have plans to build sites in the 23.8 sq-km territory.

Macau vs Vegas Strip

Casinos: Macau 23 Las Vegas 30
Gaming tables: Macau 2,400 Las Vegas 3,200
Slot machines: Macau 5,200 Las Vegas 55,000

The giant City of Dreams resort complex is set to feature the island's first underwater casino. It is the brainchild of Mr Ho's son Lawrence Ho, whose Melco International is one of the region's biggest casino operators. Macau claims to be home to the world's largest casino, the Sands Macao, but Las Vegas still dominates in terms of the number of slot machines and gaming tables. Despite its smaller gaming capacity, Macau's revenues are outstripping those in Vegas, because its punters prefer the gaming tables to slot machines and play for higher stakes.

Asian gaming laws

Although Macau is currently the only part of China to allow gambling, the city does face the growing threat of competition from elsewhere in Asia.

Casino operators have big new investment plans in Las Vegas

Singapore has dropped its 40-year ban and agreed to the building of two huge casino resorts. There has been talk of gaming laws being relaxed in countries including Thailand, Vietnam, Japan and Taiwan. And Las Vegas is unlikely to be behind in the casino earnings stakes for long.

The Nevada town is set for an estimated $20bn investment over the next five years, as operators look to update and improve its casino and non-gaming amenities.

Notes from Rochester

Hi all! It’s been a while since I posted, so I thought I’d write a bit about how things are going on my side.

I've moved into an apartment now. It isn't an apartment in the usual sense: the building is an old home converted into 7 independent units, each with a living room, bedroom, kitchen and bathroom. Because the place is old, there’s a lot of creaking and groaning in different parts of the building, but the furniture is nice and the utilities and heating are covered in the rent. The place is close to work; I have to walk about two blocks before I get into the Mayo walkway or subway system. It is starting to get cold here: the bad days have highs in the 30s and the lows in the 20s with the wind making it seem worse; normal days are about ten degrees warmer but still mostly cloudy. There was a bit of snow as well last week: just some flurries, pretty to look at and nothing serious. The trees are almost bare, and the yards of some homes are still full of the crisp, dead leaves that had fallen a few weeks ago.

So you can picture me well dressed – a winter jacket over a charcoal grey suit and tie, beige shirt, shining black shoes, gloves and winter hat in my red bag, the same red bag that I used at ASU – walking to work in the bleakness of early morning, and then returning back in the evening. With the time change coming up sometime soon – god knows how that works :) – my co-workers say that it will be dark when you walk to work and dark when you return. That, it seems, is when things get really depressing.

The new office I've been assigned (I was in a makeshift office before) is a large room; it is such an upgrade from what I’ve been used to as a student that I don’t know what to do with all the shelf and desk space. There’s a fast desktop computer with two large monitors, so you can work on many different things at the same time.

If you have a doctorate degree, Mayo will always remind you of it at every opportunity: your name tag and name plate, your email address, and postal mail that comes from Mayo will have a very flattering “Ph.D.,” after your name, making you feel like royalty – and I guess the suit, and the sparkle that goes with it, heightens this feeling.

I am looking for a car right now. This, I am discovering, isn’t an easy process. I’ve got to buy it soon, before it becomes impossible to walk and buy groceries. And I should preferably buy something that will give me good traction. But I think I might just settle for a 4 or 5 year old Honda or Toyota with a front wheel drive.

The twin cities (Minneapolis and St Paul) are just an hour and fifteen minutes away. I was there for the last two weekends: for a friend’s wedding two weeks ago, and to attend a book festival last weekend. The drive is through a landscape of gently rolling hills, acres and acres of planted corn, distinctive farm houses (I don’t have the words yet to describe them), and the occasional small town. The twin cities area is remarkably active culturally and is known for being a haven for artists of all sorts; it is probably one of best large cities in the United States.

With no television or cable – that’s been a deliberate decision – and the weather being cold, there’s been plenty of time during the evenings and weekends to get some reading and writing done. The Rochester public library screens some very nice documentary and independent movies. Here are some links on my blog (1,2 and 3)about some of the other things I’ve been doing.

I should probably stop here now; this post has gotten long :). I am looking forward to meeting at least some of you at INFORMS. Regards to everyone!