This article first appeared in the Sep/Oct 2011 issue of World Gaming magazine.
Macau’s most famous casino celebrated its fourth birthday on August 28. Who would have thought that an Italian water city that became a Las Vegas casino would also become one of the world’s truly greatest gaming meccas on the tiny former Portuguese colony of Macau.
Sheldon Adelson, who came from the hard and fast streets of Boston on the East Coast of the US, has indisputably established himself as a legend of the casino industry. He stands on top of the pile with names such as Stanley Ho, Francis Lui and Steve Wynn as the kings of an industry that goes from strength to strength especially when you talk about Asia and Macau.
While honeymooning in the canal city of Venice in Italy, Mr Adelson was inspired to build an iconic canal city in the heart of the Nevada desert. Many wondered if the eccentric magnate had finally lost control of his senses. When the Venetian opened on the Las Vegas Strip in 1999 those naysayers were nowhere to be seen. Vegas had a new icon and a new big player on the block that had Wynn and Bellagio looking over their shoulders. With the opening of the adjoining Palazzo tower in early 2008, the Venetian Las Vegas was arguably the biggest player of them all.
Mr Adelson had already turned his attention to Macau and with the stunning success of The Sands Macao from the moment of its opening in 2004 he had already broken the dominance of Stanley Ho’s SJM in a marketplace that was never going to be easy for western operators to break into. Not only did the Chinese arm of Las Vegas Sands (later to become Sands China Limited) break into the market but it competed with and in many cases defeated its local rivals.
Earlier this year Mr Adelson received the 2011 G2E Visionary Award at Asia’s pre-eminent annual gaming conference. In his acceptance speech he said that the entire idea of the Cotai strip, and bringing his flagship ‘Venetian’ project to Macau, came to him in a dream.
Well that dream is now a reality and four years later the Venetian Macau continues to draw an average of about 68,000 visitors a day. When you walk through the Venetian in Macau you could easily be in Las Vegas and vice versa, as Mr Adelson didn’t meddle with the product. He just replicated it, made it bigger, and built it right in the heart of the reclaimed Cotai Strip.
The building reportedly cost in the vicinity of US$2.4 billion dollars but you can see where the dollars went.
The property changed the landscape of gaming in Macau forever. At the time it was built it was the second largest building in the world by square footage, and no longer was Macau gaming about throwing a few baccarat tables in a smoky room.
We had our first true megaresort that provided a serious range of both gaming and non-gaming amenities.
The enormity of the Venetian Macau is underscored by these facts and figures:
- a gaming floor with some 600 gaming tables and 2,000 slot machines
- 3,000 room hotel – nearly triple the number of rooms of Macau’s second biggest hotel at the time, double the rooms of the second biggest hotel in Macau today (Galaxy Hotel) and still more hotel rooms than Galaxy Macau’s three hotels combined
- over 10 million square feet of floor space (double the size of Tiananmen Square)
- a canal system running through the property featuring a sky vista, 51 gondolas with singing gondoliers, and surrounding dining and entertainment
- Macau’s premier entertainment venue the Cotai Arena, which hosts international shows, concerts and sporting events, and seats 15,000 people
- huge function areas making it the MICE capital of Macau
- hosts G2E, Asia’s largest gaming convention
- world-class restaurants and entertainment facilities
- the Grand Canal Shoppes with over 330 selected outlets (this is larger than any Hong Kong shopping mall)
- a mini golf course and incredible pool area
- a staff of over 12,000 with a staff area so sophisticated that it even has its own McDonalds and 7-Eleven
- connected to The Plaza casino, the Four Seasons Hotel, and the Shoppes at the Four Seasons
The Venetian is leading the way in Macau when it comes to non-gaming pursuits such as shopping, dining, entertainment and MICE, which has seen competitors like City of Dreams and Galaxy Macau lift their own dedication to non-gaming tourism.
Macau enjoys incredible gaming turnover that leaves Las Vegas operators salivating. However, Macau is in many ways the younger brother and as time goes on operators will look to offer a more diverse holiday experience not just an experience based on gaming. The Venetian is a pioneer in this area and will continue to offer its visitors the very best of accommodation, dining and entertainment as well as comfortable and safe gaming that caters to all level of players.
