Macao: Casinos of Macao

Macao is the Asian Las Vegas (although the amount of money gambled here actually has surpassed the latter). Over 3 dozen casinos are concentrated in two areas – the main island (right next to the historic old town), and on the newly developed island of Cotai (a 20 minute taxi ride away). The Cotai Strip casinos include the Venetian Macao (the world’s largest casino with 3000 rooms and over the top opulence in and out and canal running indoors), and the black-n-blue City of Dreams complex – these are brand new modern state of the art developments, and much more construction still going on. On the other hand, in the old town sit the more traditional casinos like the old Lisboa and the iconic Grand Lisboa (shaped like a flame), as well as Galaxy, Sands, Wynn, MGM Grand. In between the two casino areas stands the spike of the Macau Tower with an observation deck on top. Interestingly, casinos only accept Hong Kong Dollar and not the Macau Pataca (which is bizarre since they are 1:1), so you end up with a rainbow of currencies unless you lose everything (I left with a positive balance in HKD)…