Macau, not Vegas, should set standard for gaming destinations, designer says
'We can do things differently', says the boss of company that designed Studio City and Galaxy
It may have outstripped Las Vegas to become the richest casino hub on the planet, but if Macau wants to complete the trick of turning a hardcore casino venue into a family-friendly destination, it's going to have to out- Vegas Las Vegas all over again.
So says Gary Goddard, the man who designed Studio City - the former Portuguese enclave's latest and biggest statement of mass-market intent to date, which opened last week in a blaze of Hollywood star power.
"I think Macau should not try to be Las Vegas. Macau should create what Las Vegas would like to be today," he told the Sunday Morning Post. "Las Vegas is stuck a little bit in the past. But Macau is an open campus. We can do things differently."
Broadway producer Goddard said "Macau should set a standard that Las Vegas wants to imitate", adding that the time has come to stop the faux European mimicry.
"Right now the extent of the creativity in Cotai is 'let's build a fake Eiffel Tower' … Anyone can do that," he said, referring to the latest Las Vegas Sands project, the Parisian, which is currently under construction. "Don't build a fake Tower of Pisa, don't build a fake Taj Mahal. Create original things that are iconic and that will bring Chinese, Asian and Western people to Macau."
The newly launched Hollywood-themed Studio City is the first integrated development in Cotai without VIP tables.
As gaming revenues continue to fall and the government pushes operators to diversify, Goddard said it was not about giving less space to gaming, but about investing more space and money in other attractions.