Smaller casinos face biological choice: adapt or die
Many of Macau's older and smaller casinos, which are struggling to compete against glitzy new Las Vegas-style resorts, face a stark choice: innovate or die. For one, at least, the future is digital.
Electronic games developer Paradise Entertainment said this week it would take over all five floors of the six-year-old Kampek casino, next door to Stanley Ho Hung-sun's Casino Lisboa.
Paradise, which for a year has operated an e-casino on the third floor of the building, will expand to offer 730 electronic baccarat betting terminals and up to 80 traditional card tables. The reconfigured property opens today.
Now, Paradise will receive 55 per cent of the gaming revenue and operate the expanded e-casino as a franchise under SJM's licence. SJM will pay the 40 per cent gaming tax and keep a 5 per cent licensing fee. Because of the heavy reliance on gaming machines, Paradise's operating costs are dramatically lower than traditional table-centric casinos.
'All this talk about Macau's legacy properties closing down is [balderdash],' Paradise executive director Aaron Park said. 'They just have to figure out new ways to become leaner and meaner.'
Houses always alert for oddball gaming ideas - as long as they pay There is a memorable scene in the film Vegas Vacation where Chevy Chase (as Clark Griswald) attempts to win back his hefty losses by betting his last dollars at an oddball gambling hall off the Las Vegas Strip.