As reported by: North Lake Tahoe Bonanza
Macau has been described as Asia's Las Vegas, but a researcher says that in terms of casino revenue - both reported and unreported - the former Portuguese colony's clubs have eclipsed Las Vegas Strip earnings.

Merrill Lynch casino analyst Sean Monaghan, speaking at the 13th International Conference on Gambling and Risk-Taking which ended Friday, said the reported $5.6 billion in revenue for Macau casinos has been compared to a similar win by Strip resorts in fiscal 2005.

But there's "a significant underreporting of actual revenue of the market" in Macau, Monaghan said, adding that the incentive for that is a Macau tax rate of 40 percent.

"So people think $5.6 billion is almost as big as the Las Vegas Strip and all that," said the Singapore-based analyst. "It's probably $2 billion - at least - bigger than that."

"It's probably incontestable, it could be corrupt money," Monaghan said in discussing what he termed unreported "funny money."

Part of the underreporting stems from increased competition among junket operators who handle VIP players, Monaghan said.

But he added there's a "massive" slowdown in VIP play in Macau that reflects a Chinese government crackdown on "certain people going there and spending money they shouldn't have had."

Ricardo Siu of the University of Macau said new government regulations and pressure from outside investors are helping to change the way gambling has been run there for decades.

But Siu said change is slow given the influence of long-entrenched interests.
Article By: North Lake Tahoe Bonanza