Las Vegas is the most popular city in Nevada, USA. It is often referred to as the entertainment center and casino city of the world. It is widely known for its mega casino-hotels and is always associated with spending time playfully at a luxurious place surrounded by an amusing atmosphere. Tourism and Gaming have always been major centers of the business industry in Vegas. There you are rarely able to find an empty casino and each of them is constantly full of countless people, despite the building in the center of the city or the suburbs. But the most interesting fact is that despite this gaming atmosphere Vegas is surrounded by, the online gambling industry is flourishing in Nevada and is no less popular than actual casinos. 

Current challenges 

However, the circumstances are not as simple as it has always been, and the current challenges of the world turned out to change the situation in Nevada for bad. It won’t surprise you if we say that the major threat to the Las Vegas gambling industry is the pandemic. Since the coronavirus outbreak, most facilities in Nevada have been closed due to the Covid-19. The restrictions also applied to Las Vegas casinos, which had closed for a month. In general, casinos in Las Vegas are open to guests 24 hours a day and the doors haven’t been closed since 1963, during the reign of John F. Kennedy, which makes the current case unprecedented. But for now, Las Vegas Sands closed the Palazzo for weekday reservations, causing serious challenges for its room rates. 

From Vegas to Macau

Seems like Las Vegas isn’t as attractive for casino brands as it was before. Almost every casino hotel in Las Vegas has a different branch somewhere in the world. It could be locally in the US or a place like Macau or even Malta. Since the impact of the pandemic wasn’t as serious for the economy and health sector of these places as for Vegas, they may even have the potential to replace Vegas somehow. “Casino companies are looking for a much more profitable region”, says Regina Lindeloff, an expert from CasinoCrunch.com, a website that always keeps us up to date with the latest news of the online gaming industry and the best online casinos available at this moment. 

“Las Vegas isn’t as profitable as it has been for years. Coronavirus badly damaged the convenience of these places among the people and they are not satisfied enough to spend or invest money in something that doesn’t meet their needs”. According to Lindeloff, casinos are looking for other countries in the world to make more money. “The most promising market right now would be Macau as millions of Chinese high rollers cross the border every single year, while Las Vegas isn’t reaching those numbers anymore”. 

Macau is a region on the south coast of China and Macau casinos are one of the biggest gambling hubs of the world. Since the 1850s gambling is legal in Macau, making it the biggest source of revenue and a large source of economy. More than 50% of the economy is made of tourism and gambling which are firmly connected to each other’s profit. The gambling sector in Macau’s casinos generated almost 36.7 million US dollars in 2019 and the majority of the revenue is generated from poker, roulette, baccarat, and other types of games of fortune. In the years 2009-2019 one can hardly notice a decrease in Macau’s gross revenue from gambling and gaming, which makes Lindeloff and other experts believe that it will make a huge profit and is worth making a difference.

However, Reuters’ forecast isn’t as promising. Farah Master reports that Macau casinos are facing deep losses after the pandemic as the virus shuts the door for China to travel. Up to 90% of Macau’s visitors are from China which is why travel restrictions will have a serious impact on its gambling sector as well. “There is nothing else we can do at this point,” says a senior executive from one of Macau casinos. They believed that the restrictions would be done for August but as the virus is spreading, the government produces new regulations for the safety of its population, making Macau losing hope and getting ready for the worst. 

Considering all these issues, it is still hard to say whether Macau will be a new Vegas but it is clear that the gaming industry in Vegas is facing major problems. In early June, the success of the gambling industry was still making progress as usual in Las Vegas. Opening Las Vegas Strip went well and the operators were satisfied but the second outbreak of Covid-19 made things worse. Apart from this abysmal room rates is also a big problem for the consumers of casinos, destroying the hope of recovery in a short time. According to Las Vegas Sands Corp, a giant in Vegas’ casino industry, Vegas is suffering and the situation is getting worse every day, while the US gaming hub has recovered shortly after the shutdown. However, travel restrictions in China make us believe that Macau won’t make a better profit, making the casino brands concentrating on other branches in the world.