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Macao beats Las Vegas as new gambling capital
Source: PTI April 04, 2007 12:37 IST
Macao, a tiny special administrative region of China, is now the world's gambling capital, overtaking the swanky Las Vegas in revenues last year.
Macao's 22 casinos generated a record $7.2 billion in 2006, the local government announced. By comparison, the 40-odd casinos on Las Vegas' famous main strip generated $6.6 billion.
Gambling earnings have boomed in Macao since 2001 when the government ended tycoon Stanley Ho's 40-year-long monopoly on casinos in the city and allowed foreign operators, including many American giants to set up operations, ChinaDaily reported.
Macao, a former Portuguese colony, embraced Chinese sovereignty in 2000 to become a special administrative region of China.
Interestingly, gambling is prohibited within the Chinese mainland after the Communist Party led by 'chairman' Mao Zedong captured power in Beijing in 1949.
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