Lately, my post from 6 years ago, http://www.internationalappraiser.com/2011/05/macau-surpassing-las-vegas-as-worlds.html , has had resurgence in readership, but it is outdated now.
Back then I commented that Macau had 4 times the gaming revenues as Las Vegas and was growing rapidly (43% in the previous year) while Las Vegas gaming revenues were shrinking because of the U.S. recession.
Macau Casino gaming revenues topped at $45.27 billion in 2013 and have steeply fallen since then to $28.04 billion in 2016, a decline of 38%. This may have been caused by:
1. A limit placed by the local government on the number of gaming tables (5500), and
2. Chairman Xi’s crackdown on government corruption. This made corrupt civil servants reluctant to visit Macau, and the rumor was that many of the high rollers were government officials.
Las Vegas Strip gaming revenues have recovered since then, with $6.35 billion in 2015, up about 8% from that time, as the city continues to reinvent itself.
Atlantic City continues to lose gaming revenues to new casinos in the New York and Philadelphia metropolitan areas. Both states have been experiencing about a 3% annual gain in gaming revenues, and Pennsylvania now ranks second nationwide in gaming revenues.
Meanwhile, there is a surprise third place in international rankings.
The U.S. ranks first, with $38.54 billion in gaming revenues, followed by China (Macau), with $28.04 billion.
In third place is Japan, with $12.845 billion in gaming revenues. This is a surprise considering that Japan just legalized casino gambling this year, but what I never thought of before is Japan’s Pachinko Parlors, which more resemble pinball arcades than casinos. Nevertheless, each one is a place of gambling, and there are 1248 of them in Japan.
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