Inside Asian Gaming

IAG FEB 2023年2月 亞博匯 34 looked back – publishing every single month and without missing a beat in the 194 months since then. We’ve also been there to witness the industry’s spectacular expansion: in the 2007 calendar year 11 of our 12 cover stories were about Cotai and the emergence of the Macau integrated resort. In fact, in October 2007 – a little over a month after the opening of The Venetian Macao – we wrote, “Over the coming months, Venetian Macao will prove whether Asians have sufficient appetite for Vegas- style non-gaming offerings to fill the coming pipeline of large-scale integrated resorts set to mushroom around Asia – particularly in Macau and Singapore – over the next few years. The mega resorts will change the face of gaming in Asia.” Speaking with IAG for this 200th issue, world-leading casino architect Paul Steelman – the man behind Sands Macao and Galaxy Macau and who featured on the cover of the February 2018 issue of IAG – recalls how those early risks in Macau paved the way for the industry Asia-wide. “Sands in 2004, wow – what an amazing experiment that was, which proved an incredible market,” he recalls. “We designed more VIP casinos in 10 years than we did in the previous 20. I believe Galaxy set a very high bar in how to build and expand a very competitive resort in Macau. You would have to say that Galaxy is in the top 10 integrated resorts in the world, having created an Asian yet Vegas experience. “Back then Macau was no different than any other new casino jurisdiction – the goal was to build as much gaming as possible with the proper amount of supporting spaces to make the gaming successful in a restrained but competitive market. “The present-day Macau, as advertised by the government, looks a lot more like Las Vegas.” By 2008, however, IAG was starting to look abroad with major features on the rise of gaming in Manila and of course the looming launch of two large-scale integrated resorts in Singapore. Opened in 2010 amid much fanfare, Marina Bay Sands and The main gaming floor of Sands Macao in 2004. 2004年澳門金沙的主要娛 樂場區域。 COVER STORY