2010's Gambling Centre: Macau

The president and chief operating officer of Las Vegas Sands Corp. recently estimated that Chinese gambling profits in Macau will double by 2010, leaving behind the Las Vegas Strip.

Sands is opening a "Venetian" resort that shares the name of its Vegas casino and will be one of the first examples of a project that duplicates the Las Vegas Strip in the only place to allow casinos in China: Macau.

At the Reuters Hotels and Casinos Summit in Los Angeles 2007, William Weidner the Sands' COO stated that the Venetian will be Macau's first mega-resort, featuring shopping and entertainment opportunities that will definitely attract the mainland Chinese clients.

Wall Street expects Macau casino revenue, which hit $7 billion in 2006, to grow to anywhere from $10 billion to $15 billion in 2010, acknowledging that the Vegas strip of mega-resorts generated about $6.69 billion in gambling revenue last year.

Las Vegas Sands Corp. is investing $11 billion in a series of casino resorts in a part of Macau, nicknamed the Cotai Strip. Basically, Sands plans to replicate in Macau, the Las Vegas Strip with all its features.

Weidner anticipated that 3 million square feet of malls in Macau would value at least $8.4 billion to Sands if it sold out, from as early as 2008. Macau made gambling available for players for more than a century but only lately allowed foreigners to invest in its businesses.