On Casinos

After spending 10 days in Macau, it would be hard not to talk about the casinos. From what I am told, Macau, which is only 11 square miles, has 36 casinos within its borders, and those casinos employ 14% of the local workforce. So it's no surprise that Macau has earned the nickname “The Las Vegas of Asia” (in fact, Macau casinos take in over five times as much money as those in Vegas). The casinos, by offering very high salaries, attract many young Macanese people who would otherwise go to university or pursue other careers, but many of these employees become dissatisfied with the menial nature of the work after a few months. One of our hosts told us about how she has been ministering to the casino employees, and also to the sex workers who hang around casinos looking for “work.”

Surprisingly, and despite popular reputation, casinos are not the main draw for tourists to Macau. According to a survey, the most popular reason to come to Macau is for the historical attractions, followed by shopping. Macau has many interesting historical sites which show how its people have blended eastern and western cultures. There is a lot of interesting and colorful Portuguese architecture in Macau, and for many tourists, it is a way to see European culture without leaving Asia. Macau also draws many wealthy Chinese people who desire high-quality, authentic, name-brand products. Although counterfeits abound in China, they are virtually non-existent in Macau, driving Chinese people desiring non-counterfeit products to Macau's many outlet stores.

But even if Macau did not have historical sites and shopping, and even if you did not wish to gamble, it would still be worth visiting Macau just to marvel at the opulence and grandeur of the casinos. We walked through six casinos: Grand Lisboa, MGM, Wynn, the Venetian, City of Dreams, and Grand Emperor. All of these are furnished with gold, ivory, crystal chandeliers, and fine wood, and each contains an extensive collection of fine art and sculpture. In addition, they generally contain a wide selection of name-brand stores (as I said, upscale shopping is big in Macau), many restaurants (of all price levels), and a five-star hotel. In addition to dozens of breath-taking statues and artwork, they often have other interesting attractions: one casino had a walk-in butterfly enclosure, where you might have two or three large butterflies land on you, and another had a well-choreographed musical fountain. The Venetian, an Italian-themed casino, designed its corridors to resemble European streets, with colorful facades of buildings lining the walls and a canal running through the center of the corridor. You could travel through the casino either by foot or on a gondola, with a red-and-white-striped gondolier serenading you with Italian opera.

It's hard to describe the casinos without using pictures, so I will soon be uploading them and posting a link here to see all of my photos from the trip.