Macau is Las Vegas of Asia. That is what I’ve read before coming here. Well, probably is the biggest place for gambling in Asia but it is far of becoming like Las Vegas. All I can say is that you can’t compare the two cities.
My first stop was to check the Wynn Casino which atmosphere resembles Las Vegas, also the architecture of the Hotel and Casino is similar to Las Vegas except for the size, in Macau is smaller. Well, inside the casino I went straight to play some roulette, there were only three tables and only a few players, the minimum to play here in Wynn Macau is 50 Honk Kong dollars around 6 USD inside numbers, which means that to play straight numbers is only with 50HKD chips, to bet outside the minimum is 500HKD around 65USD, the limit is by far higher that in Vegas, that explained to me why roulette was not popular, the good thing in Macau is that there is only one zero in the roulette which means a little more chance to win than in Vegas. After losing my gambling budget in the roulette, I had the time to check how Asians gamble. Where is everybody if there is no one in the roulette tables? The answer was easy, next to roulette table there were around 20 tables of a game that I had never seen before, the game is Sic Bo also known as Tai Sai (big and small) a game of Chinese origin. There were a multitude around these tables and only took me a couple of minutes to learn how to play, the game is play with three dice and the easiest bet and the most popular is to play big or small, big means that the combination of the three dice will be between 11 and 17 and small between 4 and 10, similar to roulette when playing red or black. Here the minimum bet was 100 Hong Kong dollars ( 13USD), and in the blink of an eye I was hooked in this game. The way I found out Asians bet it is funny, let’s say there are around 20 of these tables, but some of them are packed, and it is really hard to make a bet, you have to struggle to put your money on the table; and others are empty, nobody want to play there, like that table was cursed with bad luck. So, what Asians do? They are walking around the tables and when they feel there is good luck or they see a lot of people betting they bet too, and so did I. It is funny because in a table a lot of money is played and usually only in the big or small bets, and when there is a feeling that big or small is coming, almost all the players play together against the casino, when the lucky number comes there is a big celebration and laughter, but when the house wins, everybody disappears from the table and don’t show up for a while. Well I spent a long time playing this game with the same money, when is time to go is time to go, and to play a strong bet it is a good choice. I can say I liked this game because it is really simple to play, no need to sit or change the chips like in the roulette. If there were this game in Vegas I would play, and Asians would play that is for sure. There are many other table games especially card games that I had never seen before, but for sure popular for Asians.
After visiting some other casinos like the famous Lisboa Casino, Fortuna casino, Galaxy Casino, etc. I can say the only place like felt like in Vegas was in the Wynn Casino, the others felt like being in North Las Vegas not the strip. It is clear to me they want to make Macau Las Vegas of Asia, because in summer of 2007 the Venetian is opening and is going to be probably the largest casino in Macau, the only thing is that is not close to the Wynn and Lisboa Casino, the Venetian will be located in Taipa Island, anyway is only 10 minutes drive but it is not walking distance as it is in the strip. As for the gamblers I saw a lot of Asians lose a lot of money in a couple of minutes, that is why there is the market and future for the gambling industry in Macau. As for me I would like to come again next year and I am sure there is going to be a different Macau.
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