Vegas in Transition
The Sands Corporation is Betting on Asia
T
he formal gambling industry, dating back to the 17th century, long beckoned the spirited to wager their valuables for the small chance to win big. In more recent years, gambling has become a circumscribed industry, confined to massive casinos in cities built for entertainment and leisure, such as the notorious “Sin City” of Las Vegas, Nevada, the former gambling capital of the world. Popular culture depicts Vegas as the mesmerizing city of casinos, glamour, and excess. Yet, for its gleaming, gold-plated renown, casinos in Vegas are nothing more than that: a façade over a more complex economic situation. For one, Vegas has begun to stray from its traditional bread and butter gambling revenues, relying more on non-gaming
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Cornell Business Review
revenue streams to remain profitable. And while Las Vegas was once considered the gambling capital of the world, two new gambling capitals in Asia, Singapore and Macau, offer wider profit margins and larger consumer bases—incentives for casinos to look eastward. In the present day, the gambling industry has grown considerably in Macau, generating $36.7 billion in Gross Gaming Revenue (GGR) in 2019. For comparison, casino gaming revenue in the state of Nevada totaled $8.8 billion that year. Singapore does not fall far behind, with a 2019 GGR of $5.9 billion and the goal to surpass Vegas by incentivizing new casino entry and spurring existing casinos’ growth with construction funding and licensing for larger
Written By Wally Chang Graphic By Jessie Jiang
