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Night and day in Macau

By Jules Quartly
STAFF REPORTER
Wednesday, Aug 31, 2005, Page 13

PHOTOS: JULES QUARTLY, TAIPEI TIMES

What a difference a day makes in Macau, where fortunes are made and lost overnight. Gamblers turn their cards and waves of excitement build and fall throughout the hall. Smiles creep across players' faces and laughter erupts at a winning hand. Their bodies slump when the chips are raked in toward the bank.

Hundreds of eyes, lights and digital surveillance cameras are trained on the tables as the uniformed dealers, pit bosses and managers survey the action. Outside the main betting arena heavily made-up women dressed in revealing gowns or tight jeans glide by, whispering enticements. In the malls and on the street pawn shops, jewelry stores and currency are doing steady business.

Hawkers hand out flyers to introduce their cafes, massage parlors, KTVs and bars -- catering to the thirsty, hungry and lonely. Taxis circle for the next ride, and it goes on into the morning and through the next day. The gamblers move from table to table in galleries that have never seen natural light. It is dizzying 24-seven action, all-year round.

But when the sun rises the city changes its complexion and is bathed in an orange-tinted light. Children with bright backpacks groaning under the weight of their books walk to school, the bakeries sell fresh bread and Danish pastries. The resident Portuguese sip their first coffee of the day. Breakfast shops in the residential areas are open for congee, soya milk drinks and youtiao. Shops' shutters are raised, office workers get down to business.

And the first busload of tourists flock to view the sights of the city, the UNESCO heritage-listed town center with its crazy paving and European colonial-style buildings, in pastel yellow, light blue and pink. They come across the Ruins of St Paul's, wander round the history museum and learn Macau was the earliest European settlement in China when the Portuguese established a trading post in 1557.

Gambling was introduced in 1847 to offset the growing influence of Hong Kong and was monopolized in 1937, when Macau was known as the "Monte Carlo of the Orient." Stanley Ho and his associates in the organization Sociedade de Turismo e Diversoes de Macau have effectively run things since they took over the monopoly in 1962, barely disturbed until recently by the hand over from the Portuguese enclave to China in December 1999.

In 2002, however, gaming concessions were handed to three companies, that included Ho, but also a group with US interests. Venetian Macau opened The Sands last year and has a Las Vegas-style operation. It focuses more on part-time or small-time players than Ho's flagship operation at the Lisboa which fishes principally for big-time players, or "whales."

"We're a US-run company and we don't take shit. There are no gangsters, and we don't encourage prostitutes," said a Romanian pit boss at Sands, who asked not to be named. "They [the Ho organization] used to be able to pretty much do what they wanted, but things have changed a lot."

At the Sands, where the value of chips hitting the green baize table doubled to US$2 billion in the second quarter, it is bright and there is a buzz as thousands of people are entertained while they gamble. Civil servants, who are banned from going to casinos except on one holiday a year, go to the Sands for its famed buffet.

The Ruins of St Paul's

At the Lisboa, there are hundreds rather than thousands of punters. Prostitutes prowl outside the gaming halls. They can't stop walking. If they stand still and procure they will be arrested. Transactions are done on the run and the couples disappear in an elevator to one of the hotel's rooms. In the main gambling hall there is a yellow pallor and the betting is serious and relentless.

Part of the theme park beeing developed at Fisherman's Wharf, Macau.

But Ho has other developments in the pipeline and still has the greatest share of a gambling pie worth around US$5 billion, more than Las Vegas, the former gambling city of the world. Deputy director of the Macau Government Tourist Office Maria Helena de Seine Fernandes said Ho had done a lot for the province and was a historical figure, but the changes had been beneficial.

"Competition is good. The owners have to outdo each other. There is a lot of creativity. As long as the pie keeps growing there is nothing to worry about."

She admitted income from gambling dominated the economy (40 percent of GDP) but said tourism was the second biggest earner and this was why the government was investing in "diversified tourism products," such as hosting sporting events like the F1 Grand Prix, festivals or concerts, and sponsoring record bungee jumps off the landmark Macau Tower.

She said Macau had cleaned up its act, after triads got out of hand in the 1990s. Crime has been reduced since the hand over and went down 1.5 percent last year. "This is not a problem now and we intend to be a well-rounded tourism destination." Even families are being targeted as vacationers with construction of a man-made, 40m-high pyrotechnic volcano in the center of a theme park at Fisherman's Wharf -- another of Ho's schemes.

With the tap of China adding to the estimated 20 million visitors a year, the average growth rate in the past four years has been 10 percent. Immense amounts of money are flowing into Macau, from Hong Kong, China, the US and Portugal. Over US$12 billion is funding construction of more casinos and parks, spreading into Ma-cau's Taipa and Coloane islands, with its golf courses, beaches and scenic spots.

It would appear that Macau is booming but not ever-yone is happy. The taxi driver to the airport complained, "All this development is just for face to take Taiwan." And though US$12 billion in cash is a lot of face, he may have a point.

Many Macanese leave their island because there are few opportunities for them unless they join the gambling and tourism-related industries. Over 30,000 new jobs will be created by the gaming industry next year, but they will be filled mainly by foreign workers.

Though unemployment is only 4.1 percent, local workers' wages are depressed because imported China labor works for less. They are also being squeezed as investors fuel property prices, with a rise of 31 percent last year, according to Xinhuanet. Currently, there is a balance of immigration and emigration with a population of 450,000, but this is changing as more foreigners buy into Macao.

"Locals are not benefiting most from the changes, it's outsiders," the taxi driver said. "The government just wants to show `one country, two systems' works."

In a December 1999 People's Daily editorial the Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) in Taiwan was blamed for not allowing China to take control of Macau in 1949. The eventual Macau hand over was framed by the editorial in the context

of the "goal of complete reunification of the motherland."

But this is politics and the reality is a vibrant Macau that is undeniably growing and profiting to the benefit of more people, quicker than ever. Macau is on a winning streak.

Meanwhile, there is a special Mainland Endorsement for Taiwan Residents office at Macau International Airport. Like the local businessmen heading to China, planeloads of Taiwanese men going to Macau seem to think little of politics, more of the cash they may win.

The casinos are a Disneyland for adult fun, but if you don't fancy playing with Lady Luck there is plenty of heart and history to experience in Macau over a long weekend.

For your information:

Macau (澳門) is a small territory on the southern coast of China, 70km southwest of Hong Kong.
Travel: You can get there by hydrofoil, boat and helicopter from Hong Kong. Or fly straight in from Taipei.
Cost: Air Macau from Taipei for a long-weekend is NT$6,700 in the evening, NT$8,200 in the day, for September.
Hotel: Casa Real Hotel, Avenida Do Dr Rodrigo Rodgrigues, 1118, Macao (853) 726 288.
Tourism bureau Web site: www.gov.mo/egi/Portal/index.jsp
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