Don’t be surprised if you suddenly feel like in Las Vegas when you have step foot on Asia’s premier gaming hub.
Bo Bernhard, executive director of UNLV’s International Gaming Institute, and one of the world’s leading gaming academics, told Las Vegas Review – Journal that the so-called “Las Vegasization” of Macau will continue this year as high rollers continue to avoid the former Portuguese enclave.
“Las Vegasization” is a term coined by Bernhard to describe the growth of non-gaming revenue as part of the total resort experience.
He explained that it is a phenomenon that gained traction in Southern Nevada in the late 1990s and has been expanding ever since.
“The government (of Macau) wants diversification and they are getting it, as the industry is now led by people and companies who know how to do this, even in markets where gaming revenues are so dominant it’s tough to make a dent in the traditional percentage-of-revenue metrics,” Bernhard said, according to the news report.
Bernhard pointed out that non-gaming revenue is keeping Macau afloat after seeing 26 consecutive month of falling gross gaming revenues. He also couldn’t help but note the striking resemblance of Las Vegas to Macau.
Unlike before, Bernhard said Macau is now teeming with high-end, retail stores – especially in the Cotai Strip – while attractions for the non-gaming sector are being constructed left and right.
Only time, according to Bernhard, can tell whether the non-gaming revenue will outpace the casino floors in Macau.
“When you think about it, virtually every consumer product has homogenized with globalization – around the world, we eat at the same fast food chains, we listen to the same pop songs, and we shop at the same major retailers,” Bernhard said. “Why wouldn’t this homogenization also happen with the integrated resort product that made Las Vegas famous? I think we see greater convergence between the Macau experience and the Las Vegas experience, even though both steadfastly retain their original flavors, of course.”
For Bernhard, Macau’s transition to non-gaming is a positive development, especially for companies eyeing to make a footprint in other emerging gambling hubs, such as Japan.
“In the end, this would constitute one of the major chapters in gaming expansion – in which the integrated casino resort, which is arguably Nevada’s most successful invention and most lucrative export, is at last exported to one of the world’s largest economies,” Bernhard said.
