Pearl Briefing | Down and out among the bright lights of Macau's casinoland

If the streets near the landmark Grand Lisboa are any sign, Macau is a city not built for the people living there.

The streets are packed with pawn shops tricked out in blinding neon lights offering cash-strapped visiting gamblers the money they need to keep trying their luck. Second-hand MacBooks, shark fins, abalone and Chinese medicinal caterpillar fungus line the shelves. Gamblers can even use their debit cards to withdraw cash - with a commission to overcome the cap each traveller can take out of the mainland.

There has been speculation in Hong Kong that the ongoing Occupy Central campaign is convincing some mainland holidaymakers to change plans and head to Macau. Macau could probably use a boost, with Beijing's fierce graft crackdown helping to push down revenue in the world's biggest gambling centre by a record 23 per cent year-on-year last month.

President Xi Jinping is also expected in Macau next month to celebrate the 15th anniversary of the special administrative region's handover, a factor that could deter high rollers from a trip to the gambling mecca.

Certainly the casinos are rolling out the welcome mat. Arriving at the Macau Ferry Terminal last Friday, visitors were immediately greeted by rows of miniskirted casino staff showing the way to a free casino shuttle bus. And very few of the welcome party spoke any Cantonese. "Macau is like a United Nations now. Foreign labour is flocking in from everywhere - mostly from the mainland, Taiwan and other Southeast Asian countries," said a shuttle bus driver who did not wish to be identified.

But have those workers come in vain?