Wynn Macau Taking Shape

June 28, 2005 9:55 PM Posted by tom

I have seen these photos in the Wynn presentations off their corp website. I am really curious about the reasoning behind a 12 story hotel tower. With such a large population in China I would have though a 50ish story tower would be more desirable. Is the small tower due to some city ordinance or maybe just a reality of the building site not being able to handle the taller structure.

June 28, 2005 9:59 PM Posted by Hunter

I think a big part of it is that most Macau visitors are day-trippers - they come from mainland China for the day and then return. Most do not stay overnight.

June 28, 2005 11:02 PM Posted by Mark

Are those dancing fountains I see in the lake?

June 28, 2005 11:28 PM Posted by Mike

Very interesting photos. If the scale is similar to Wynn Las Vegas, it looks like it's going to have somewhere around 23 or 24 floors.

Wynn already built a gorgeous building in Vegas, but is he trying to make the curved, chocolate tower somewhat of a trademark of his? We already know Encore's going to have the same look. I actually think that's a great idea, but I'm sure it's going to have its critics.

June 29, 2005 8:22 AM Posted by Ehrlich

Mark, I noticed the dancing fountains also. They look like the fountains of bellagio. His architects probably just took that desgin to represent still fountains that would be stationary and greet guest upon entering.

June 29, 2005 8:24 AM Posted by A

It looks like Wynn Macau will be like bellagio and Wynn Las Vegas in one

June 29, 2005 11:15 AM Posted by muckcat

Don't like the stubby proportions of the shorter tower.

June 29, 2005 12:54 PM Posted by jazz

Hey Tom, Mike is right about the 22 floors. There is a white stripe for every two floors here and in Vegas. In vegas there are two floors above the top stripe as well, which makes this model 22 floors. The fountains will probably be dancing (why not). It would be a crowd pleaser.

June 29, 2005 1:36 PM Posted by tom

I think the look of the Macau resort is a little stubby for my tastes. By the way I went back to the presentation and you right, it is more than 12 floors. The chart I was looking at was a construction update chart indicating construction had reached the 12th floor. While the presentation does not say how many floors the tower will have, it does say it will have 600 rooms. Not enough in my opinion. Another interesting thing I noticed is that there will be 200 tables but only 350 slots in the casino. Looks like Asians really like those table games.

June 29, 2005 4:07 PM Posted by Ehrlich

The Macao gaming market is amde up almost entirely of table game revenue. The reason there are only 600 rooms is because most people going to macao don't usually stay over. This has been evident in Las Vegas Sand's decision to only have 20 super suites and no hotel rooms at its sand macao property. However, as more non-gaming entertainemnt and hotel rooms are added through new developments such as Wynn Macao and the Venetian Macao, the city wil develop similar to the way Las Vegas developed. The potenital of the city is beyond belief compared to Vegas. There are over 100 million people within a 3 hour drive of Macao. Furthermore, there are more than 1 billion people within a 3 hour flight. Las Vegas's numbers in regard of bordering population dont even come close to that. That is taking into consideration that all the large East coast cities are about a 5 hour plane ride to Las Vegas.

June 29, 2005 7:11 PM Posted by charlie

Not unlike Wynn Las Vegas, this looks like a colossal waste of prime real estate. I can't figure out why Steve didn't build the Esplanade 2 or 3 stories. What about even building villas on top of the Esplanade? With all of the "plumbing" built into the Wynn Mountain, I had hoped for sort of radical subterrean promenades with multi-level restaurants contained within the mountain looking back at the main building. This would have been the sort of revolutionary design/architecture/engineering that we had all expected. There would be no Wynn vs. Bellagio debate.

June 29, 2005 9:04 PM Posted by A

Hey here is an article about wynn macau , and it has a good picture of a model with the 2nd tower.
http://www.macautourism.gov.mo/news/mttdetail.phtml?lan=en&id=3203

June 29, 2005 10:47 PM Posted by tom

OK so this picture shows two towers of the same size. That is different than what the Wynn presentation shows but maybe the second tower is part of the long term plan. I have read that Macau is a daytrippers market but are you telling me that of the 1,000,000,000 people within a 3 hour flight, none of them want to stay overnight??? This is often said about Atlantic City but there are alot more rooms there because people do like to stay overnight and not just daytrip. I live only an hour from there and I still enjoy staying overnight. And the Wynn presentation does say they are trying to create a more resort like experience in Macau so I expected more rooms. Maybe if the demand is really strong, the second tower will be much larger.

June 30, 2005 6:33 AM Posted by Ehrlich

Wynn is creating the hotel to feel like a stay over type of resort experience. However, a lot of the 1,000,000 people who live within a 3-hour flight have never wanted to come to Macao because it has never offered any real accomodations for them to stay over and spend a few nights. That is part of Wynn's ambition with this project, to create a resort like expereince in Macao that has never been experienced. Las Vegas Sands will further create more a of a resort like experience when it opens the Venetian Macao which is expected to have 3,000 hotel rooms, a huge convention center and many non-gaming amenities. Las Vegas Sands will eventually create 15,000 rooms in partnerships with well known hotel names to ensure that Macao becames a destination traveling spot similar to the way Las Vegas was developed. Las Vegas Sands will then have a percentage of the casinos and will manage them for the other hotels. I think Las Vegas Sands will own 30% of the casinos for each hotel they bring in and managmeent fees for running the casinos will be included. Doing this enables them to fully take advantage of the gaming license that they were issued and make sure that their investment with the Venetian Macao is successful. So as of right now macao is a popular place for day trippers among the 100 million people who live within a 3 hour drive. By offering more accomodations and more hotels rooms with more incentives the market will tap into the 1 billion people who live within a 3 hour flight.

In reference to what you said about Atlantic City, yes many people stay over in Atlantic City. However, there are still many day trippers within a short drive and more importantly a very limited number of hotel rooms. This shortage of hotel rooms is why the Taj Mahal has announced another 1,250 rooms. The Tropicana has in additon to the that will add 500 hotel rooms. This is in additon to the 500 hotel rooms added at the Quarter and the popularity of the Quarter is the reason why they want 500 hotel rooms more at the new boutique hotel. The Tropicana at just 2100 rooms is the largest hotel as of now in atlantic City. Borgata will take that title once it finishes another 800 hotel rooms to bring their total to 2800. Harrahs has announced another 800 rooms within a $450 million dollar hotel and entertainemnt project that will bring its total to 2400 rooms. In addition house of blues at the Showboat has enabled Harrahs to build another 400 or 500 rooms at the Showboat. Resorts opened up their Rendevous tower which came along with another 400 hotel rooms. Furthermore Trump Marina may add another tower. So as you can see another few thousand rooms are being added to the Atlanitc City rooms market which is much samller than it should be. Part of the reason of the new demand comes form the addition of the Quarter and Borgata and many new non gmaing venues. More rooms are also being planned based on Caesars new retail pier. Borgata which will have 2800 rooms will be the perfect size for the largest hotel in Atlantic City. More hotels along this size will be added in the future.

June 30, 2005 6:42 AM Posted by Ehrlich

I also forogt the new hotel tower that the Atlantic City Hilton wants to unveil under colony capital. They want to add another 600 rooms or so that will double the size of the hotel and the casino. The hotel has seen much popularity with its great beach bar and old golden nugget look. Also, the Sands may be adding an all suite hotel that hasn't revealed how many rooms it would add.

June 30, 2005 10:32 AM Posted by detroit1051

Ehrlich, thanks for the information on AC. I was surprised the other day when a friend here (Florida) said he thought they'd go to Atlantic City this year instead of Las Vegas because Atlantic City has improved so much over the past few years.

Another friend will stay in Macau this fall. I just emailed him to ask how expensive the rooms are and whether he had any problem with availability.

June 30, 2005 11:48 AM Posted by tom

Ehrlich,

Good analysis of the room situation in AC. I think AC is on the verge of a breakout similiar to what happened in Las Vegas when the Mirage was built. The Borgata has brought a whole new young and wealthy clientele into AC. If the knucklehead politicians and locals will allow the proper development(a huge leap of faith in NJ), AC could be a fantastic resort at least in the summer. An example of this is allowing the resorts to set up temporary beach bars for the summer. These are a great addition to the waterfront that was not allowed in the past by ordinance. Also, I think your points on Macau back up my contention that Wynn is making a tactical mistake by building a small hotel. Build it and they will come was his vision for the Mirage and should be in Macua.

June 30, 2005 12:52 PM Posted by Ehrlich

From what I hear the second phase of Wynn Macao will not only double the size of the casino, but also add another hotel tower. This would than enable Wynn to take advantage of the influx of vacationers. You also need to take into consideration that Las Vegas Sands is planning for their company to have a much larger hold in Macao than Wynn resorts. Wynn still needs to focus on many more projects throughout the world including a Singapore casino, encore in vegas and the development behind Wynn Las Vegas. Wynn must be budget constraint because he is known for overly spending to make his resorts perfect. Las Vegas Sands is the kind of company who knows how to make money, but not necessarily build resorts. Wynn also has much debt with all the project he has underway. Wynn Las Vegas cost $2.7 billion, this macao project is estimated at about $800 million than the singapore casino, encore is supposed to cost at least $1.4 billion maybe more and the $4 billion development being planned behind Wynn Las Vegas.

What you said about Atlantic City becoming what Las Vegas became when the Mirage opened, you're partially correct. Atlantic City will definitely see new non-gaming projects similar to Las Vegas which helped drive its continuous success. The base of new non-gaming activiity stems from mostly retail projects and the addition of new uspcale restaurants with celebrity chefs. However, Atlantic City needs to evolve in a different direction. Instead of only focusing on the summer months and outdoor activiites A.C. needs to develop as a prominent city along the east coast. If Atlantic City can start fixing up its scenary and start moving out the population mostly on welfare, you will see new developers planning large scale residential and commercial projects. Atlantic City as a gaming destination brings in revenue similar to that of Las Vegas. You will not see Atlantic City ever plan an initial resort of 3,000 rooms because of its inability to fill rooms during the week. However, as new 2000-2500 room hotels are created more companies will start bringing convention business and week day occupancy to the hotels. Furthermore, Atlantic City's location on the east coast being near New York, Boston, Philadelphia and many large wealthy suburbs in between will help make it one of the largest wekend destinations in the World. This will happen if A.C. continues to focus on non-gmaing projects and constructs a new luxury hotel or 2 in the near future. This may hurt small hotels, but that would be a good thing. Leading to demolitions along the boardwalk and new projects in the marina district, where the future of the city lies.

July 3, 2005 8:49 AM Posted by Brigam

Re mid-week conferences/conventions: At the AC Trop expansion, all the attention has gone to the Quarter, the dining/entertainment/retail addition. However, another important part of the addition is a state-of-the-art conference center. This sits on a floor above the Quarter and is easily accessible via escalator from the Quarter.

Aztar says this is the best conference center in AC. I don't know if they were including the conference rooms at the newish (1997) when they said this.

The Trop's new conference center will take a little while to ramp up. Apparently meeting planners like to actually see the property before they book meetings there. The expansion only opened last Thanksgiving (following an 8-month delay as a result of a tragic construction accident). However, in the April earnings conference call, they said that bookings at the conference center are strong for September and continuing through the autumn. This will help mid-week occupancy (they're basically stealing a chapter from Sheldon Adelson's and MGM Mirage's book).

July 4, 2005 5:41 AM Posted by Ehrlich

Tropicana also built the new meeting rooms on the top floor of the new havana tower. I haven't seen the rooms but I'm sure there nice and have great views. Although the Tropicana's new hotel rooms ddin't come out nice at all.

July 10, 2005 10:31 AM Posted by detroit1051

The Las Vegas Sun has a good description of the activity in Macau:

http://www.lasvegassun.com/sunbin/stories/sun/2005/jul/08/519023045.html

July 08, 2005

Macau: The next Vegas?
By Richard N. Velotta
LAS VEGAS SUN
WEEKEND EDITION

July 9-10, 2005

MACAU -- This small Asian enclave is on the verge of supplanting mighty Las Vegas as the top gambling market in the world.

The entire Macau peninsula, two islands and a reclaimed river delta, covers about 16.9 square miles compared with Las Vegas' 84.3 square miles. But pound for pound, gamblers in Macau are far more aggressive than those visiting Southern Nevada.

When Macau was turned over to the Chinese government in 1999 -- the same year Hong Kong made a similar but more newsworthy transition -- one of the first moves by the new administration was to open the gaming market to competitors, ending a 40-year monopoly.

The resulting injection of competition has made the market explode, with analysts expecting gaming revenue to surpass Las Vegas levels this year or next.

The Macau government reported gaming revenue of $5 billion in 2004, about $3.5 billion ahead of 2003's total and slightly ahead of the $4.9 billion generated last year on the Las Vegas Strip.

With 15 casinos operating in Macau with about 1,000 table games, the per-table win in Macau is nearly 10 times the per-table win in Las Vegas. Experts say Macau's gaming market could grow from $9 billion to $12 billion in the next five years as the Chinese tourism market expands and more resorts are built.

Now, a familiar shape -- familiar, at least, to Las Vegas residents -- is joining the skyline of this island resort city that shares a fascinating blend of Chinese and Portuguese cultures.

Wynn Macau, the 600-room hotel due to open in the third quarter of next year, will look a lot like its American big brother, Wynn Las Vegas, which opened on the Strip in April.

To people familiar with the Las Vegas version, Wynn Macau won't hold many surprises. But to Macanese who are watching the building take shape, the resort will be a dramatic departure from anything in the market today.

But that's what makes Macau the world's most intriguing gambling center and why most experts expect it to surpass Las Vegas as the world's dominant casino market.

"We've heard Macau referred to as the Las Vegas of Asia," said Grant Bowie, who as president and general manager of Wynn Macau is Steve Wynn's top man in Asia. "But there's only one Las Vegas in this world. Our objective here is not to be seduced by another market as the way (Macau) is going to evolve."

Las Vegas companies are clearly leading the change that is taking place in Macau, which is on the tip of China's southern seacoast and is a one-hour boat ride from Hong Kong.

There are varying theories as to how the evolution of Macau is going to occur. But most agree that the transformation will involve turning it from what is predominantly a day-trip market to a resort destination where tourists stay longer. Operators also hope to bump up hotel occupancy rates.

L.C. Koo, head of the performance improvement department for Sociedade de Jogos de Macau, the dominant casino operator in Macau owned by Stanley Ho, said in 2004 that visitors from China stayed an average of 1.1 days at the company's 15 casino properties and visitors from Hong Kong stayed a day.

Since 1999, the occupancy rate of Macau's 9,600 hotel rooms has gradually increased to 75 percent from about 50 percent.

William Weidner, president and chief operating officer of Las Vegas Sands Inc., believes the demographics of the population that lives a few hours of Macau will lead the city to surpass Las Vegas become the dominant gambling market in the world.

Experts say there are more than 100 million people within a three-hour drive of Macau and more than 1 billion people within a three-hour flight. As the Chinese economy expands and travel and visa policies are relaxed, more and more people are expected to make the trek to Macau.

"The opportunity is just terrific," Weidner said at a recent gaming conference in Singapore. "The developments planned will change Macau forever."

The Sands Macau has been open for more than a year, and executives are happy with the early results. But the company's big push in Macau will occur with its development of the Cotai strip, on what once was a river delta on the island of Taipa, connected by bridge to Macau.

"Since the opening of China, things have changed dramatically," Weidner said. "Given the growth of the Chinese economy overall, there is just a huge opportunity for Macau to develop into something much, much greater than Las Vegas."

Gaming analysts say the Las Vegas companies are well positioned in Macau and that existing casinos will have a hard time keeping up with the Americans.

"Outside of Sands Macau, the existing properties are nowhere near the quality of the next-generation projects coming on line," said Marc Falcone, a gaming analyst with Deutsche Bank, after a June trip to Macau. "As such, we do not anticipate that the older supply will be able to compete, and that attrition from these facilities will offset some of the new supply."

But Bowie and others think the Macau market expansion will play out much the way that it has in the United States with the proliferation of tribal casinos: The entire market will grow as a result of the increased competition.

"We're going to be a player in the high-roller market and we're going to be a player in the premium mass market," Bowie said. "We'll have a bigger piece of the pie, but we also expect the pie to grow."

Ho's empire

If the pie grows as Bowie suspects and the American interests get rich as a result, few will be shedding any tears for Ho and his Macanese empire.

Ho owns many of the concessions, including Asia's largest hydrofoil fleet, and a helicopter service that ferries passengers between Hong Kong and Macau.

While tourists from China have access to Macau by land from the mainland side, visitors from Hong Kong must either take a boat or fly to Macau.

Getting to the harbor at Hong Kong island is easy with the terminal at the end of one of the easy-to-use, high-tech subway lines.

It's fairly simple to book a seat on the Jetfoil boats, which leave every 15 minutes and cost $141 in Hong Kong currency -- about $18 in U.S. dollars.

The voyage on the South China Sea skirts several islands and offers passengers views of Hong Kong's impressive skyscraper-filled skyline.

Boats seat about 600 passengers in two classes with passengers in the front of the boat getting a meal. The seats are comfortable and a comedy reel runs on video during the voyage. The air-conditioned cabin offers relief from the sticky humidity and 90-degree temperatures or frequent rain storms.

Tourists arriving in Macau by ferry see the 1.1-million-square-foot Sands Macau and its 71-foot sign as soon as they hit the harbor. A themed fisherman's wharf retail attraction nearby is in the final stages of construction.

The ferry station is a study in organized chaos with passengers getting off the boats scrambling to Customs and Immigration service lines. People traveling between the special administrative regions of Hong Kong and Macau are required to carry passports and go through the same entry process as those going to another country.

Once inside the main terminal, there are taxi lines and buses available. Few taxi drivers understand English. Knowing Spanish offers a little help since it is relatively close to Macau's secondary language, Portuguese.

But the easiest way to get around is to go to the information desk and find a bilingual employee to write a destination in Chinese characters.

Wynn Macau's corporate offices are on the ninth floor of the Hotline Center office building near a major hotel and the cab ride was a few dollars. Although the pacata is the standard currency of Macau, the local merchants accept Hong Kong dollars.

Ho's casino empire is spread out in hotels throughout the city and on the nearby islands of Taipa and Coloane. His company, known throughout the region as SJM, controls more than 80 percent of Macau's five-star hotel rooms -- a standard that may rank closer to three stars in the United States.

Among the SJM casinos are the Lisboa, where a doorman dressed like a conquistador meets hotel arrivals, and the Casino New Century-Greek Mythology on Taipa, which seems to have torn a page out of the Caesars Palace playbook with characters dressed as Greek gods and goddesses being photographed with guests, just like the versions of Caesar and Cleopatra are in Las Vegas.

There are similarities and differences between the SJM casinos and a traditional Las Vegas casino floor. Casino operators take security seriously -- players have to pass through a metal detector like those at airports and courthouses to get to the casino action.

The most striking difference between an American casino floor and an SJM property is the dominance of table games to slot machines. Reports about the two-fisted style of gambling at the tables are true. On a Monday afternoon, players were standing about three deep wagering at the Lisboa's tables. Baccarat is the game of choice and chain-smoking, serious gamblers play undistracted in a noisy party atmosphere.

Private gambling salons ring the main casino and provocatively dressed unaccompanied women are all around -- a lot more visible than their Las Vegas counterparts.

At the Greek Mythology, the gaming extends upward several levels with balconies overlooking an open theater with live entertainment.

Sands Macau

The atmosphere at the Sands Macau is as electric as it is at the Lisboa with table games dominating the floor.

The six-acre parcel is 1,200 feet long and 300 feet wide and built on piers over a flood plain.

With a 50-foot ceiling, the cavernous building became Macau's first stadium-style casino. A massive chandelier -- the largest in the world -- dominates the room.

The property has Macau's first Las Vegas-style buffet, a total of 1,600 restaurant seats and a porte cochere with four lanes.

Eighteen private gambling salons attract Chinese high rollers as the company markets the invitation-only Paiza Club concept it is using at the Venetian to draw premium players to the resort.

While a four-lane porte cochere wouldn't attract much attention in Las Vegas, it's a major breakthrough in Macau where long taxi lines are the norm. A one-minute wait for a cab makes it popular with players and the Sands Macau also has a separate bus entrance that makes the property popular with large groups.

The casino is designed so that a future tower expansion for hotel rooms is possible.

In addition to baccarat, players seem to be drawn to "Big Small," a dice game that plays similarly to roulette. Three die are rolled beneath a bell-shaped shield and players wager on a board on the outcome of each roll.

The property has 370 table games, the most in the Macau market, and about 300 slot machines.

Weidner said Las Vegas Sands decided to leap quickly into the mass day-trip market with a casino "as close to the ferry terminal as we could build it." The strategy is certainly paying off in terms of visibility.

Wynn Macau

Closer to the central Macau business district are three construction projects in various stages of completion.

The Wynn Macau, Galaxy Casino S.A.'s StarWorld and the MGM Grand Macau are all being built on one of the last vacant parcels in the central business district, next door to the Lisboa.

The Wynn's American-style construction methods have enabled workers to surpass Galaxy's project, which had an earlier groundbreaking but is using bamboo scaffolding for its work crews.

Phase I of Wynn Macau -- which will have 600 rooms, 100,000 square feet of gaming housing 200 table games and 350 slot machines, seven restaurants and 28,000 square feet of retail space, a spa and entertainment facilities -- is nearly ready to add its trademark crown that holds Wynn's signature.

Judging from models at the Wynn Macau corporate headquarters, the building will have some subtle differences from the Las Vegas resort -- the curve into the crown bends the opposite direction.

With the opening of the property still a year away, plans for Phase II of the Wynn Macau already have begun to take shape. The expansion will add another 85,000 square feet of casino space, enough for 150 more table games and 500 more slots, a sports book, two restaurants, a theater and a water attraction at the front of the property.

Construction is expected to start on the expansion this quarter and it is expected to open in the first half of 2007. That will bring Wynn's Macau investment to just over $1 billion.

MGM Grand Macau

Wynn Macau's next-door neighbor will be one of its Las Vegas rivals, MGM Mirage, which is developing the 600-room MGM Grand Macau resort.

MGM Mirage is engaged in a 50-50 partnership with Stanley Ho's daughter, Pansy Ho Chiu-King, manager of MGM Grand Paradise Ltd.

The partners broke ground last month on a 28-story wave-shaped tower. Company officials envision suites and villas on par with the Mansion at the MGM Grand. A 222,000-square-foot split-level casino floor will have 300 table games and 1,000 slot machines.

The property also will include a 1,500-seat theater, a 5,500-square-foot nightclub, and 13,500 square feet of meeting and convention space which will include an 11,000-square-foot ballroom.

The $975 million property will have nine restaurants with varying cuisines, including a restaurant on the roof with views of the city and the harbor.

A 25,000-square-foot spa rounds out the amenities for the resort.

Like Wynn Macau, the MGM Grand Macau already has announced plans for an expansion with the ability to add 72,000 square feet to the casino floor's second level. The additional space would give the property the capacity to expand to 400 table games and 2,000 slot machines, which would make it the largest casino floor in the city.

Will tourists gravitate to slots when the culture suggests that most players prefer table games?

John-Martin Meyer, managing officer of Revive Gaming, MGM Mirage's slot technology division, and a former slot director at Las Vegas' Excalibur property, believes slot machines can still be a viable market in Macau and that they just haven't been marketed properly there.

"It's an understudied, understated misconception" that slots are destined to be the weak sister of the Macau market, Meyer said.

He believes that with proper positioning and better presentations, slot machines can be as lucrative as the table games in Macau.

The Cotai Strip

Possibly the most intriguing addition to the Macau market is the Cotai Strip, located on reclaimed land between the islands of Taipa and Coloane, a short hop over a bridge from Macau's central business district.

That's where Las Vegas Sands is building the Venetian Macau, with 3,000 suites, 1.2 million square feet of meeting and convention space, 850,000 square feet of shopping space, a 2,000-seat showroom, a 15,000-seat arena for world-class entertainment, 22 restaurants, a 66,000-square-foot spa and wellness center and an outdoor recreation area with waterfalls, wave pools and a lazy river.

The Venetian Macau, currently under construction, will be the $1.8 billion anchor for seven resort hotels offering 12,500 guest rooms, 1.8 million square feet of meeting and convention space, 1.6 million square feet of retail, 550,000 square feet of casino space and a total of 25,000 seats in venues for live entertainment.

"If you take a piece of the (Las Vegas) Strip of what is now the Wynn Resort and what is now the Bellagio Resort -- that piece in Las Vegas -- move it over to Macau, that's about the volume of space and distance generally and about the number of rooms that are being developed there," Weidner said.

The first phase of the Cotai Strip is due to open in early 2007. Joining the Venetian clone on the Cotai will be properties by the Dorsett Hotel Group, Four Seasons Hotels and Resorts, Hilton Hotels (which include the Hilton, Conrad and Scandic brands), InterContinental Hotels Group (which offers the InterContinental and Holiday Inn brands), Marriott International (which has the Marriott and Renaissance brands), Regal Hotels and Starwood Hotel and Resorts Worldwide (which offers the Sheraton and W brands).

Although there are a number of buildings that will look much like properties in Las Vegas -- the Venetian Macau and the Wynn Macau will look just like their counterparts and the Macau Tower has an eerie resemblance to the Stratosphere Tower -- Wynn's Bowie insists that Macau is its own market and duplicating the Las Vegas experience down to the last brick would be a mistake.

He also cautioned that the transition of Macau to a world-class resort destination won't happen overnight.

"This is going to take a lot of commitment by developers," Bowie said. "It's not a quick transition. It's more like 'War and Peace.' "

December 12, 2005 6:53 PM Posted by Linda Sawyer

I just returned from Macau. It was a day trip from Kowloon.
Doubtful it is the next Las Vegas. The Sands had 6/5 video poker and $300 HKD ($40 a hand) blackjack. It was jammed and I was the only westerner in site. If anything, Las Vegas is in danger of losing the asian clientele now that they can take a day trip. Other casinos I went to were dirty.Wynn will hopefully have a shuttle from the ferry.

September 5, 2006 1:06 AM Posted by motoman

Hey Hunter,
How 'bout a Technorati Tag and/or category for AC?

September 5, 2006 9:21 AM Posted by Hunter

You talking Atlantic City?