Casino - More than just Fun and Dreams

The City of Dreams casino complex opened in Macau last Monday, complete with giant crowds and fireworks. Two scions of the gambling industry in Asia, Lawrence Ho and James Packer, set the rock groove by smashing a guitar each in front of the Hard Rock Hotel.

The new resort is the first major casino opening in almost two years in the former Portuguese colony, since the Venetian Macau launched in August 2007. The City of Dreams sits on the Cotai Strip, a long street of reclaimed land, directly opposite the Venetian, which at 550,000 square feet houses the largest gambling hall in the world.

The City of Dreams features the 420,000-square-foot casino itself, and will ultimately have 175,000 square feet of luxury retail in its shopping mall. At the Hard Rock, tourists can pore over Madonna’s hot pants and bustier; Pink’s guitar; one of Michael Jackson’s silver sequined gloves; the Hong Kong-based singer Jacky Cheung’s scarf, sweater and bow tie; and a yellow fur coat with black trim that Elvis Presley himself once wore.

There’s also a Crown Towers hotel for high rollers, and a Grand Hyatt hotel is scheduled to open at the City of Dreams later this year.

Whereas its competitor, the Venetian, mimicked an existing Las Vegas casino, the City of Dreams offers something new, with a futuristic theme and feel, and a stage built on a lagoon. The complex has a domed theater, called the Bubble, with a multimedia show based on Chinese mythology. The City of Dreams will also house a permanent show by Franco Dragone, the former director of Cirque du Soleil, who helped create Celine Dion’s show in Las Vegas.

The new casino may encourage visitors to go straight to the Cotai Strip instead of the Macau peninsula, the traditional heart of the city. That’s particularly notable if they are coming from Hong Kong, which has a direct ferry service to Taipa Island, next to the strip. Mainland visitors may bus directly to Cotai from the border to see the latest casino.