【聯合報／By BETTINA WASSENER／陳世欽譯】
Chinese Fuel Casino Boom in Macau
MACAU — This city on the southeast coast of China already has its own version of Venice, complete with a Grand Canal and a Rialto Bridge. Soon, it will get a taste of France, with an Eiffel Tower.
Macau has grown explosively over the last decade, and another burst of expansion is in full swing involving some of the world’s biggest casino operators.
“It’s astounding what’s happened in the past 10 years,” said Edward M. Tracy, chief executive of Sands China, the Hong Kong-listed subsidiary of the Las Vegas Sands Corporation. “We sit next to the biggest market in the world . It’s one billion more people than the U.S.”
A former Portuguese colony that was handed back to Chinese control in 1999, Macau now dwarfs Las Vegas as a gambling hub. And it epitomizes the rising spending power of the Chinese and their economy’s evolution away from heavy-duty manufacturing toward more consumption- oriented growth.
A four-decade monopoly held by a local gambling magnate, Stanley Ho, ended in 2002, prompting a building frenzy that resulted in a tripling of casinos, to 35, in a decade. Many are situated on the Cotai Strip, land that was once a stretch of water between the islands of Coloane and Taipa.
The cranes on the Cotai Strip are also testimony to the casino operators’ faith that Beijing, despite a recent clampdown on corruption and ostentatious spending, is content to let gambling thrive in Macau, which is now a special administrative region with its own regulations.
Gambling revenue has soared to nearly 361 billion Macau patacas, or about $46 billion, last year, from 22.2 billion patacas in 2002.
The Macau casino company Sociedade de Jogos de Macau, or SJM, broke ground on construction of the Lisboa Palace in February. The $3.9 billion complex is expected to open in 2017. It will be equipped with 700 gambling tables and feature three hotels — including a Palazzo Versace hotel and a hotel designed by Karl Lagerfeld, the chief designer for the Chanel and Fendi fashion houses.
Las Vegas Sands, which has the giant Venetian hotel and casino resort and other sites in Macau, is adding a complex called the Parisian, scheduled to open next year. Its Eiffel Tower will have a 200-seat restaurant.
The Galaxy, a big resort that is part of Galaxy Entertainment Group, a Hong Kong company, opened less than three years ago. Ritz-Carlton and JW Marriott hotels are being added to the site.
Wynn Resorts is planning a 1,700-room casino-and-hotel complex that is expected to open in 2016.
Nearly 20 million people, or one in five Chinese who ventured outside mainland China last year, came to Macau. Rising affluence and improved transportation connections — including a bridge linking Macau and Hong Kong in 2016 — are expected to drive growth for some time.
Mr. Liu, a chain-smoking 57-year-old paint factory owner from Foshan, about 100 kilometers north of Macau, was placing bets of as much as 20,000 Hong Kong dollars, or about $2,600, at the baccarat tables in a V.I.P. room at the Venetian in March.
“I lost 100,000 yesterday,” said Mr. Liu, who declined to give his first name . “I didn’t even go back to my hotel room last night and now I’m winning it all back. ”
Aaron Park, an American former banker who works for Paradise Entertainment, which operates a casino in Macau, said: “Macau is the China consumption story in one place. In a few years, Macau will become an epicenter for the world’s biggest brands.”
中譯
位於中國大陸東南岸的澳門已經擁有自己的威尼斯，包括一條大運河與雷雅托橋，一樣不少。不久後它還會有座艾菲爾鐵塔，再添些法國風。
10年來澳門呈爆炸性成長，另一波擴張且已全面展開，涉及一些舉世最大的賭場業者。
在香港掛牌的金沙中國有限公司是美國拉斯維加斯金沙集團的子公司，執行長崔西說：「過去10年發生的一切令人瞠目結舌。我們緊鄰世上最大市場。它的人口比美國多出10億。」
澳門曾是葡萄牙的殖民地，1999年回歸中國大陸，如今已是令拉斯維加斯相形見絀的賭博業樞紐。它象徵大陸人花錢能力不斷增強，以及大陸經濟逐漸自重型製造業為主轉型至消費導向的成長模式。
澳門賭王何鴻燊對賭場長達40年的壟斷於2002年結束，引發一股興建熱，使澳門賭場短短10年內增至三倍，來到35個。許多賭場位於金光大道。這塊地曾經是路環島與仔島之間的一片水域。
金光大道的吊車同時說明，賭場業者認為，北京當局雖然最近大力打壓貪腐與鋪張浪費，卻樂見賭博業在澳門興旺。澳門是中國大陸的一個特別行政區，有自己的法規。
澳門去年賭博收入激增至將近3610億澳門幣（約460億美元），而2002年時僅有222億。
澳門博彩控股有限公司二月動工興建「上葡京」度假村，耗資39億美元，預定2017年啟用，屆時將有700張賭桌與三家酒店，包括凡賽斯皇宮酒店，以及由時尚品牌香奈兒、芬迪首席設計師拉格菲爾德設計的一家酒店。
拉斯維加斯金沙集團擁有澳門占地廣大的威尼斯人度假村酒店及其他設施，正在增建預定明年啟用的巴黎人酒店區。它的艾菲爾鐵塔將配置一間可坐200人的餐廳。
銀河酒店是香港銀河娛樂集團旗下大型度假區，開幕不到三年。即將增設一家麗思卡爾頓酒店與一家萬豪酒店。
穩贏集團正在規畫一個有1700間客房的賭場兼酒店，預定2016年啟用。
去年有將近二千萬大陸人（約占出境總人數的1/5）前往澳門。人民日益富裕加上交通改善（包括預定2016年通車的港珠澳大橋）可望使澳門經濟繼續成長相當時日。
菸不離手的劉先生現年57歲，來自澳門以北約100公里的佛山市，是個油漆廠老闆。三月某日在威尼斯人酒店貴賓室玩巴卡拉紙牌，一把下注最高達二萬港幣（約2600美元）。
不願透露名字的劉先生說：「我昨天賭輸10萬港幣。我昨晚甚至沒有回到我的酒店房間，現在全贏回來了。」
帕克出身美國銀行界，目前為在澳門經營一家賭場的匯彩控股有限公司工作。他說：「澳門是一個地區的中國消費故事。幾年後，它將成為吸引全球最知名品牌前來的一個中心。」
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