FOREIGN CORRESPONDENT
INTERNATIONAL EDITION
Macau: The Vegas of Asia
©2004 ABC
Intro: Its part of China now, but for 450 years Macau was a Portuguese colony. Mary Ann Jolley travels to the tiny enclave at the foot of the mainland to discover that Macaus Portuguese heritage is being swept aside in a wave of Vegas style casinos.
Gambling is officially banned on the mainland but encouraged in Macau, so millions of Chinese are flooding in 5 million in the past 6 months.
And the Americans have arrived. Theyve broken the monopoly of Macaus acknowledged casino king, the colourful and controversial Stanley Ho. Ho is basically Mr Macau, owning 12 casinos and with substantial interests in every other business in the place.
But locals whove been observing the gambling scene for many years are sceptical of American plans as to bring Las Vegas style resorts to Macau.
Chinese gamblers only think about one thing, local journalist Harald Bruning tells Foreign Correspondent. Luck, or the lack of it. They are passionate about gambling because luck is what determines life in general in Asia. US gambling consultant Jim Kilby says: The average Las Vegas customer comes to eat, see the shows and to gamble. When youre dealing with the Asian gambler my impression is that its all business.
And what business. Chinese tourists are only supposed to take a maximum of $US5000 out of the mainland, but many of them are seen betting hundreds of thousands a night. Hos casinos alone generate $US3.5billion a year.
Views of Macau Music 00:00
JOLLEY: On a peninsula in the Pearl River delta, a tiny enclave at the foot of mainland China, Macaus size belies its fame and fortune. Colonised by the Portuguese almost 450 years ago, it was seen as a gateway to the Orient. But trade and shipping wasnt to be its calling as luck would have it, it found a much more lucrative means of survival. Returned to China in 1999, Macau has made its name as the casino capital of Asia. 00:07
Neon casino signs/casino interiors Music 00:47
JOLLEY: Banned in China, gambling has flourished in Macau for more than 150 years. Rather than stamping it out after the handover, the communists are cashing in opening the doors to the big guns of Las Vegas. 01:12
Music
Sheldon at Press Conference. Super:Sheldon AdelsonSands Casino SHELDON ADELSON: Let me tell you of my vision for the future of Macau. What I see, and what I see as the first step in the opening of the Sands, is Asias destination resort. Macau in Chinese means Asias Las Vegas. 01:34
Opening of Sands Casino JOLLEY: Las Vegas casino magnate, Sheldon Adelson is the proud owner of the brand new Sands Casino. Costing some US$240 million with three hundred gambling tables, its bigger than anything in Vegas. Fuelled by false rumours of free gambling chips, more than fifteen thousand queued for hours to be the first through the doors and according to the Sands Operation Manager, Trinh Thuy, the numbers are growing by the day.TRINH THUY: We did make a projection of 01:56
Trinh Thuy some twenty odd thousand people a day. Now we are exceeding thirty thousand people a day. 02:38
Ho and woman on dance floor Music
Casino interiors
JOLLEY: Macaus controversial casino king, Stanley Ho, seems remarkably unperturbed by his new Vegas competitors. But then again, why would he be? Having held the monopoly on Macaus casinos for more than 40 years, hes got twelve casinos of his own generating almost $5 billion a year and holds substantial interests in -- well -- just about everything in Macau, from hotels and tourist attractions to the airport, jetfoils, roads and bridges. 02:51
Bruning. Super:Harald BruningJournalist, South China Morning Post
HARALD BRUNING: The casino company run by Stanley Ho became a behemoth, I mean a monster. 03:33
Harald walks
JOLLEY: Harald Bruning is a German who has lived and worked as a journalist in Macau for more than 20 years. 03:42
HARALD BRUNING: There was this joke in Macau that Macau was not a territory with a casino company but a casino company with a territory. 03:50
Bruning: That company was bigger, in a way, than the government, and I mean thats not a very healthy situation. 03:57
Casino on waters edge Music
Crime scenes
JOLLEY: And with the casinos, came crime. Chinese Triad gangsters moved in, taking control of VIP rooms. Money laundering, prostitution and extortion were rife. Bombings, arson attacks and murders gripped the colony in the lead up to the handover. Since China took control, Triads have lowered their profile, and with the new casinos, competition has forced change. 04:10
DAVID CHOW: Competition is in my life, in my blood, you know. I like it. 04:44
Chow in office JOLLEY: David Chow is Stanley Hos business partner and runs a newly refurbished Pharaohs Palace. 04:51
DAVID CHOW: Every new investor coming in here, they have to learn the culture here. Okay, its a different environment right here than in Las Vegas. 04:59
Super: David ChowCasino Operator. I think for me I like more European style, so all my investments are more elegant and more environment in the atmosphere. 05:08
Interior, Pharaohs Palace Music
JOLLEY: Pharaohs Palace isnt David Chows only design extravaganza. 05:21
Exterior. Sands Casino/Model of Fishermans Wharf Music
JOLLEY: Sands may have brought Las Vegas to Macau, but not to be outdone, David Chows bringing the entire world with his latest venture Fishermans Wharf. 05:31
Music
Building site CARLOS COUTO: This is the Coliseum. Mr Chow wants to have live shows every day. 05:47
Couto and Jolley on building site JOLLEY: Local architect, Carlos Couto, is in charge of the project. A tribute to Macaus multi-cultural heritage. 05:54
Music
Couto CARLOS COUTO: We have East meets West which is the area where we are now. 06:08
Building site
JOLLEY: 90,000 square metres of restaurants, hotels and amusements are planned for the site. 06:11
Super: Carlos CoutoArchitect CARLOS COUTO: As soon as this complex is going to open, we are going to have thousands of people every day. We just need to open more quickly if we can.06:18
Tourists crossing Chinese border post
JOLLEY: At the China border, its easy to see why Macau is booming. Since Beijing eased restrictions on travel outside the country last year, Chinese tourists are flooding across. In the last 6 months, more than five million made the journey. 06:33
While Chinese tourists can take only $8,000 out of China, remarkably many of them are seen betting hundreds of thousands a night. 06:55
JIM KILBY: As an investment, I wish I had enough money to invest in Macau. You can only be optimistic about this area. 07:05
JOLLEY: A Gambling Professor at the University of Nevada, Las Vegas, 07:12
Kilby. Super:Prof. Jim KilbyCasino consultant Jim Kilby is a consultant to Sands.
JIM KILBY: I think everyone in this area should be concerned, because the easier you make gambling, the more difficult it is for a destination place like Australia, where you have to fly several hours to get there, Vegas even fly hours longer, I think it will just make it extremely convenient here in this area and theres going to be a tremendous amount of competition. 07:16
Chow. Super:David ChowCasino operator
DAVID CHOW: I think that we have 1.3 billion people from China willing to come into this small area. This is big enough for everybody. 07:43
Tourists board bus
JOLLEY: Stanley Hos buses pick up tourists at the border. Today its a group of bankers from Canton Province. A quick tour, then, where else but Stanley Hos Lisboa Casino. 07:56
ALEX TOUR GUIDE: Theyre really enjoying the traditional Chinese style, 08:13
Alex and the feeling and environment -- because people like smoking, noise speaking loudly, and so and so. 08:17
Lisboa casino exterior
JIM KILBY: I think in Las Vegas and in the United States, if you were to talk to the average Las Vegas customer, 08:30
Kilby they came to Las Vegas to eat and to see the shows and to gamble. When youre dealing with the Asian gambler, my impression is its all business. 08:37
HARALD BRUNING: Asian gamblers, especially Chinese gamblers, they only think about one thing luck or the lack of it, or how to be lucky, and that means theyre more passionate about gambling, because luck is what determines life in general in Asia. 08:52
Church interior/choir Singing 09:15
JOLLEY: The new casinos make Macau richer, but cant give it its heart and soul. The Macanese culture, a fusion of east and west can and does. Singing in the Macanese language, the choir celebrates its heritage. 09:28
Most locals dont actually gamble. In fact government employees are banned from casinos except on Chinese New Year, and many oppose the Americanisation of Macau. 09:52
Couple in church:
MACANESE WOMAN: I would say that there is a very, very strong effort and willingness to maintain what we consider a very important part of our heritage. We wouldnt give it away easily. 10:06
MACANESE MAN: We are concerned; I would not like to see Macau change just to be another Las Vegas.HARALD BRUNING: Macau is not Las Vegas, its not a desert; 10:18
Bruning we are a city like, in a way, Monte Carlo that has a very long history. 10:35
Views of Macau Thousands of years as a Chinese fishing port, half a millennium as a Portuguese colony. I would like Macau to become not the Las Vegas of Asia, but the Monte Carlo of the Orient. 10:39
Casino exteriors Music 10:56
JOLLEY: With thirty more Las Vegas style casinos planned, Sands is just a taste of things to come. JIM KILBY: I dont think that any 11:05
Kilby operator here has intentions to Americanise the Asian gambler, I think the Asian gambler will Asianise the American
operators. 11:14
Casino exteriors, night
JOLLEY: The next decade will see a massive transformation. With mounting gambling profits and the worlds casino giants wanting a share, it seems this one time backwater has hit the jackpot. The challenge for Macau will be making the most of the riches without losing its soul.
Credits: Reporter: Mary Ann JolleyCamera: Geoffrey LyeSound: Kate GrahamEditor: Simon BrynjolffssenProducer: Mavourneen Dineen
INTERNATIONAL EDITION
Macau: The Vegas of Asia
©2004 ABC
Intro: Its part of China now, but for 450 years Macau was a Portuguese colony. Mary Ann Jolley travels to the tiny enclave at the foot of the mainland to discover that Macaus Portuguese heritage is being swept aside in a wave of Vegas style casinos.
Gambling is officially banned on the mainland but encouraged in Macau, so millions of Chinese are flooding in 5 million in the past 6 months.
And the Americans have arrived. Theyve broken the monopoly of Macaus acknowledged casino king, the colourful and controversial Stanley Ho. Ho is basically Mr Macau, owning 12 casinos and with substantial interests in every other business in the place.
But locals whove been observing the gambling scene for many years are sceptical of American plans as to bring Las Vegas style resorts to Macau.
Chinese gamblers only think about one thing, local journalist Harald Bruning tells Foreign Correspondent. Luck, or the lack of it. They are passionate about gambling because luck is what determines life in general in Asia. US gambling consultant Jim Kilby says: The average Las Vegas customer comes to eat, see the shows and to gamble. When youre dealing with the Asian gambler my impression is that its all business.
And what business. Chinese tourists are only supposed to take a maximum of $US5000 out of the mainland, but many of them are seen betting hundreds of thousands a night. Hos casinos alone generate $US3.5billion a year.
Views of Macau Music 00:00
JOLLEY: On a peninsula in the Pearl River delta, a tiny enclave at the foot of mainland China, Macaus size belies its fame and fortune. Colonised by the Portuguese almost 450 years ago, it was seen as a gateway to the Orient. But trade and shipping wasnt to be its calling as luck would have it, it found a much more lucrative means of survival. Returned to China in 1999, Macau has made its name as the casino capital of Asia. 00:07
Neon casino signs/casino interiors Music 00:47
JOLLEY: Banned in China, gambling has flourished in Macau for more than 150 years. Rather than stamping it out after the handover, the communists are cashing in opening the doors to the big guns of Las Vegas. 01:12
Music
Sheldon at Press Conference. Super:Sheldon AdelsonSands Casino SHELDON ADELSON: Let me tell you of my vision for the future of Macau. What I see, and what I see as the first step in the opening of the Sands, is Asias destination resort. Macau in Chinese means Asias Las Vegas. 01:34
Opening of Sands Casino JOLLEY: Las Vegas casino magnate, Sheldon Adelson is the proud owner of the brand new Sands Casino. Costing some US$240 million with three hundred gambling tables, its bigger than anything in Vegas. Fuelled by false rumours of free gambling chips, more than fifteen thousand queued for hours to be the first through the doors and according to the Sands Operation Manager, Trinh Thuy, the numbers are growing by the day.TRINH THUY: We did make a projection of 01:56
Trinh Thuy some twenty odd thousand people a day. Now we are exceeding thirty thousand people a day. 02:38
Ho and woman on dance floor Music
Casino interiors
JOLLEY: Macaus controversial casino king, Stanley Ho, seems remarkably unperturbed by his new Vegas competitors. But then again, why would he be? Having held the monopoly on Macaus casinos for more than 40 years, hes got twelve casinos of his own generating almost $5 billion a year and holds substantial interests in -- well -- just about everything in Macau, from hotels and tourist attractions to the airport, jetfoils, roads and bridges. 02:51
Bruning. Super:Harald BruningJournalist, South China Morning Post
HARALD BRUNING: The casino company run by Stanley Ho became a behemoth, I mean a monster. 03:33
Harald walks
JOLLEY: Harald Bruning is a German who has lived and worked as a journalist in Macau for more than 20 years. 03:42
HARALD BRUNING: There was this joke in Macau that Macau was not a territory with a casino company but a casino company with a territory. 03:50
Bruning: That company was bigger, in a way, than the government, and I mean thats not a very healthy situation. 03:57
Casino on waters edge Music
Crime scenes
JOLLEY: And with the casinos, came crime. Chinese Triad gangsters moved in, taking control of VIP rooms. Money laundering, prostitution and extortion were rife. Bombings, arson attacks and murders gripped the colony in the lead up to the handover. Since China took control, Triads have lowered their profile, and with the new casinos, competition has forced change. 04:10
DAVID CHOW: Competition is in my life, in my blood, you know. I like it. 04:44
Chow in office JOLLEY: David Chow is Stanley Hos business partner and runs a newly refurbished Pharaohs Palace. 04:51
DAVID CHOW: Every new investor coming in here, they have to learn the culture here. Okay, its a different environment right here than in Las Vegas. 04:59
Super: David ChowCasino Operator. I think for me I like more European style, so all my investments are more elegant and more environment in the atmosphere. 05:08
Interior, Pharaohs Palace Music
JOLLEY: Pharaohs Palace isnt David Chows only design extravaganza. 05:21
Exterior. Sands Casino/Model of Fishermans Wharf Music
JOLLEY: Sands may have brought Las Vegas to Macau, but not to be outdone, David Chows bringing the entire world with his latest venture Fishermans Wharf. 05:31
Music
Building site CARLOS COUTO: This is the Coliseum. Mr Chow wants to have live shows every day. 05:47
Couto and Jolley on building site JOLLEY: Local architect, Carlos Couto, is in charge of the project. A tribute to Macaus multi-cultural heritage. 05:54
Music
Couto CARLOS COUTO: We have East meets West which is the area where we are now. 06:08
Building site
JOLLEY: 90,000 square metres of restaurants, hotels and amusements are planned for the site. 06:11
Super: Carlos CoutoArchitect CARLOS COUTO: As soon as this complex is going to open, we are going to have thousands of people every day. We just need to open more quickly if we can.06:18
Tourists crossing Chinese border post
JOLLEY: At the China border, its easy to see why Macau is booming. Since Beijing eased restrictions on travel outside the country last year, Chinese tourists are flooding across. In the last 6 months, more than five million made the journey. 06:33
While Chinese tourists can take only $8,000 out of China, remarkably many of them are seen betting hundreds of thousands a night. 06:55
JIM KILBY: As an investment, I wish I had enough money to invest in Macau. You can only be optimistic about this area. 07:05
JOLLEY: A Gambling Professor at the University of Nevada, Las Vegas, 07:12
Kilby. Super:Prof. Jim KilbyCasino consultant Jim Kilby is a consultant to Sands.
JIM KILBY: I think everyone in this area should be concerned, because the easier you make gambling, the more difficult it is for a destination place like Australia, where you have to fly several hours to get there, Vegas even fly hours longer, I think it will just make it extremely convenient here in this area and theres going to be a tremendous amount of competition. 07:16
Chow. Super:David ChowCasino operator
DAVID CHOW: I think that we have 1.3 billion people from China willing to come into this small area. This is big enough for everybody. 07:43
Tourists board bus
JOLLEY: Stanley Hos buses pick up tourists at the border. Today its a group of bankers from Canton Province. A quick tour, then, where else but Stanley Hos Lisboa Casino. 07:56
ALEX TOUR GUIDE: Theyre really enjoying the traditional Chinese style, 08:13
Alex and the feeling and environment -- because people like smoking, noise speaking loudly, and so and so. 08:17
Lisboa casino exterior
JIM KILBY: I think in Las Vegas and in the United States, if you were to talk to the average Las Vegas customer, 08:30
Kilby they came to Las Vegas to eat and to see the shows and to gamble. When youre dealing with the Asian gambler, my impression is its all business. 08:37
HARALD BRUNING: Asian gamblers, especially Chinese gamblers, they only think about one thing luck or the lack of it, or how to be lucky, and that means theyre more passionate about gambling, because luck is what determines life in general in Asia. 08:52
Church interior/choir Singing 09:15
JOLLEY: The new casinos make Macau richer, but cant give it its heart and soul. The Macanese culture, a fusion of east and west can and does. Singing in the Macanese language, the choir celebrates its heritage. 09:28
Most locals dont actually gamble. In fact government employees are banned from casinos except on Chinese New Year, and many oppose the Americanisation of Macau. 09:52
Couple in church:
MACANESE WOMAN: I would say that there is a very, very strong effort and willingness to maintain what we consider a very important part of our heritage. We wouldnt give it away easily. 10:06
MACANESE MAN: We are concerned; I would not like to see Macau change just to be another Las Vegas.HARALD BRUNING: Macau is not Las Vegas, its not a desert; 10:18
Bruning we are a city like, in a way, Monte Carlo that has a very long history. 10:35
Views of Macau Thousands of years as a Chinese fishing port, half a millennium as a Portuguese colony. I would like Macau to become not the Las Vegas of Asia, but the Monte Carlo of the Orient. 10:39
Casino exteriors Music 10:56
JOLLEY: With thirty more Las Vegas style casinos planned, Sands is just a taste of things to come. JIM KILBY: I dont think that any 11:05
Kilby operator here has intentions to Americanise the Asian gambler, I think the Asian gambler will Asianise the American
operators. 11:14
Casino exteriors, night
JOLLEY: The next decade will see a massive transformation. With mounting gambling profits and the worlds casino giants wanting a share, it seems this one time backwater has hit the jackpot. The challenge for Macau will be making the most of the riches without losing its soul.
Credits: Reporter: Mary Ann JolleyCamera: Geoffrey LyeSound: Kate GrahamEditor: Simon BrynjolffssenProducer: Mavourneen Dineen