In Depth: Has Macao Junket Operators’ Luck Run Out?

By Zhou Wenmin, Wang Duan, Wen Simin, Yang Min and Wang Xintong

A Big Wheel gaming machine stands in the casino at the Studio City casino resort, developed by Melco Crown Entertainment Ltd., ahead of the grand opening during a media tour in Macau, China, on Monday, Oct. 26, 2015. Photo: VCG

From a trading port to a world-famous hub of glitzy casinos, Macao’s gambling industry has grown to dominate the economy of the “Monte Carlo of the East” since it was legalized by the Portuguese about 170 years ago.

As the only part of Chinese territory in which casinos are legal, mainland visitors are the city’s lifeblood.

Those visitors once helped the city’s gambling revenue top that of Las Vegas, making Macao the world’s No. 1 gambling economy.

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