We watch transfixed as a normal looking Chinese man exchanges $100,000 for 10 chips, then proceeds to loose said chips in the space of 5 minutes. Without showing any emotion, he reaches into his wallet again...
Last year in Macau, more money crossed the table than in Las Vegas. I don't get casinos. Maybe it was four years of studying statistics, maybe it is that no one in any casino that we went into seemed to be smiling, let alone having a good time. Why bother when the games are geared so that the house always wins and showing any initiative to help beat the odds is liable to get you thrown out?
From the soon to be opened 3000 room Venetian to the glittering Sands, each casino is a monumental shrine to tackiness and misguided decadence.
Yet walk 10 minutes down the road into the Old Quarter and you are in a different world. running down from the Catholic chuich facade, the old Portugese alleys and streets bustle with shoppers and ladies hawking off egg tarts which were much tastier than the Hong Kong version.
Sitting among all the Loius Vuitton and Chanel handbags on the boat home, we felt pretty good about only spending $5 on the pokies :)
