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Way down on China’s southern coast close to the former British territory of Hong Kong lies the small but well known territory of Macau. Its architecture still bears much of the Portuguese influence left behind by the colonists that ruled this territory for several centuries, although much has changed in recent years.

While Hong Kong allows betting on horse racing and mah-jongg, it does not allow it on anything else. Because of this, the Chinese, who really do love to gamble, flock to Macau and its incredible array of hotels, bars and restaurants with the main aim of spending a great deal of their time in the establishments that have made Macau a magnet for the seeker of good fortune - the casinos.

Macau has for over a century allowed all forms of gambling to be carried out within its borders. In 1847 gambling was legalised by its colonial rulers, the Portuguese and the law was never rescinded. Gambling houses were built to accommodate the steady flow of contented and not so contented gamblers from across the border in China as well as across the sea from Taiwan and other surrounding states. By the 1900s the area was flourishing with the steady business brought in by gamblers from far and wide and it remained so until 1999, which was when the territory was returned to Chinese rule.

Realising they had a huge source of taxable revenue in the territory, the Chinese Government allowed gambling to continue in Macau. Then in 2002, they dismantled the stranglehold of a state monopoly that had been in force for forty years to allow foreign investors in. This transformed Macau from being a mediocre gambling territory into a huge funnel of private investment dollars which saw the construction of the massive array of casinos, hotels and associated businesses that we see today.

In fact foreign investment was so incredibly enormous in Macau that not only did it rapidly become the largest gambling centre in South East Asia, but in 2007 it overtook Las Vegas to become the largest centre for gambling in the world in terms of gambling revenue generated.

The incredible success of Macau is mainly attributed to its perfect location making it within easy travelling distance of many heavily populated cities and regions. It attracts in excess of nineteen million visitors annually from China, Taiwan, and the Philippines, with ninety percent of that total coming from China itself including its close neighbour, Hong Kong.

Macau has three major forms of gambling which are legalised and these are horse racing, greyhound racing and casino games. The territory of Macau consists of several islands as well as the mainland area. The many casinos are located on the three largest islands in the group. The island known as Taipa hosts the popular horse racing track, while the mainland hosts the greyhound track, known as the Canindrome. 

The official name of Macau is “Macao Special Administrative Region of the People's Republic of China” and the two official languages are Chinese (Cantonese) and Portuguese. It has a total population of just over half a million with a population density 44,784 per square mile (17,310/km2) at 2007 figures. This makes it the region that is most densely populated in the world.

Macau is the home of a famous gambling mogul by the name of Stanley Ho, who is locally dubbed “The King of Gambling” and is originally from neighbouring Hong Kong. It was Ho that controlled the gambling monopoly that existed in Macau for around thirty five years before the territory was handed back to China by Portugal in 1999. Stanley Ho is also the wealthiest person in Macau and is the man mainly responsible for the developments in the form of the big casinos that occurred in the territory during that time. 

Built in the 1960s, the Hotel Lisboa is probably the best known and easily the largest of Macau’s casinos. It is a huge complex comprising of more than a thousand rooms plus the enormous casino with satellite bars and restaurants. Since the early part of the 21st century, more large scale casino and hotel developments have been underway, further enlarging the already enormous scale of the gambling establishments and associated businesses in the territory. With the current economic downturn worldwide, Macau has suffered a drop off in revenue for 2008, although this doesn’t seem to be calling a halt to the continual flood of private investment in the area which will see it continue to grow in the years to come.