Opens on 1st of June 2009, the new $2.4 billion Asian underwater-themed City of Dreams casino aims to draw mainstream Chinese gamblers and tourists to Macau.

Photos used with permission of City of Dreams Macau

“Our policy is that we will not allow any casinos to just shut down and cease operations.”

Edmund Ho, Macau’s chief executive to reporters on worst case scenario, after his annual policy address.

Macau’s economic and financial secretary guaranteed that the Government will concert all efforts to ensure the employment of the local population at times of economic downturn.

Tam Pak Yuen (譚伯源) said that Macau’s economy will inevitably be affected by the current global financial crisis.

The Government is paying close attention to the trend and the economic development of the neighbouring regions at the present stage, and will formulate corresponding measures to respond.

He also promised that policies will be formulated to ensure the business environment in Macau will not get significantly worse, and that the health of small and medium enterprises (SMEs) will not be damaged badly because of the global situation, and that Macau will recover as soon as possible when business environment improves.

He also said that he is concerned with the employment situation in Macau, and although unemployment figures will be worse than before, he believed that large-scale redundancies by casino operators may not happen.

Source: Blogmacau.info

One of the most significant shift in Macao VIP Revenue landscape is the increase of commission rate of VIP rolling chip sales (i.e dead chips) from the traditional 0.7 % to the current 1.35% (offered by Crown Macau). Now, there is huge inter-casino pressure to balance revenues, market share as well as profitability at the end of the day.

Inside Asian Gaming’s May cover story presents an excellent write up on this BIG Squeeze covering the tiny city of Macau.

Macau 27th casino opens today on August 28th 2007 at 7.18pm This is the world 2nd largest building, Asia biggest Integrated Resort. It has over 850 gaming tables and 3,400 slot machines. Watch this space for more updates and photos as I will be in Macau this weekend and you bet I am going to be on Cotai Strip® ! The monstrous area covers 10.5 million square feet, with 3,000 hotel rooms, 22 restaurant, a Spa centre as well as convention area of 1.2 million square feet. The performance venue can sits 15,000 audience and a theatre of 1,800. This place also have an area of 1 million square feet of shopping mall.