MACAU – The current reality in Atlantic City is pretty grim.
Four casinos have gone belly up since the start of the year, and a fifth – the Trump Taj Mahal – is expected to go on the chopping block in December.
More than 9,000 jobs will be lost.
For the Bernard Hopkins bout with Sergey Kovalev earlier this month, the city resembled a mortuary.
Storefronts were closed.
Shoppers were non-existent on the famed boardwalk.
Most of the big fights have dried up, going to Las Vegas and California. It doesn’t feel like America’s Playground anymore.
Yet few thought the big matches would fly east to China to the small resort city of Macau off the mainland, the only place in the country that allows gambling.
But on Saturday, for the second time in as many years, Manny Pacquiao will take his giant base of baccarat-playing high-rollers to this former Portuguese territory when he takes on Huntington, L.I.’s Chris Algieri at the Venetian Casino on HBO Pay-Per-View.
The area’s profile has skyrocketed in recent years thanks in part to the government easing restrictions on foreign investment, allowing billions of dollars to pour in, resulting in a series of new casino projects spearheaded by the Las Vegas Sands and Wynn Resorts companies.
Macau’s total revenue from gaming in 2013 was a whopping $45 billion, more than seven times that of Las Vegas, according to CNNMoney.com, making it the gambling capital of the world.
Over the next three years, as many as eight new casino ventures are reportedly set to open.
“The handshake deal we made with (Pacquiao promoter) Bob Arum was to get three of (Pacquiao’s) last five fights here,” said Ed Tracy, president and chief executive of Sands China, who oversees three other properties in Macau worth $4 billion.
Tracy, who bears an uncanny resemblance to the actor Edward Herrmann, sat down with a small group of reporters at the Venetian to discuss the company’s success in China.
“Welcome to our universe,” Tracy said with the air of someone who owns a winning hand. “It’s pretty different from any place on the planet. The good news it’s busier than any other place on the planet.”
(Slight reality check: Macau has experienced five straight months of declines in gaming revenues after two years of massive growth, a situation Tracy chalked up to rooting out financial corruption.)
Arum said he plans on running four cards a year in Macau and another six on the mainland. His first foray into Macau was in April of 2013 with Filipino-American boxer Brian Viloria.
Flush with ready money, the Venetian can shell out more cash for site fees than Las Vegas – basically a guarantee on ticket sales – making it worth it to fight in the world’s fastest-growing economy.
Pacquiao stands to pocket $23 million on Saturday, more than he would in the U.S. and will avoid paying taxes, Arum said.
“We would have every fight here (if we could),” said Arum. “But there is a fall off to a certain extent on Pay-Per-View between doing the fight here and doing it in the United States.”
Still, Pacquiao is expected to pick up another $7 million in PPV revenue.
There is no Chinese Boxing Commission to sanction the bout, so Arum created his own, with the help of the WBO. VADA is conducting random drug-testing for the boxers.
Still, Arum wouldn’t say if the day will come when an American headlines in Macau.
Two-time Chinese Olympic gold medalist Zou Shiming has been a centerpiece of Arum’s Chinese experiment and is fighting on Saturday.
“If you put, say (lightweight champion) Terence Crawford, to be on a head show it wouldn’t resonate at all,” Arum said. “Manny will because he’s Asian. It needs Chinese support.”
Arum’s company, Top Rank, is actively scouting Chinese fighters and operates two gyms in Shanghai, he said. Arum also said he plans to hire an American trainer to staff the gyms.
Asked for proof that Pacquiao’s popularity has translated to China and will continue to soar, Tracy leaned back slightly in his chair and summed up the business potential of boxing this way:
“I don’t know,” he said, “200 million people watching (Pacquiao’s first) fight on TV? That would be my first clue. It could happen that this fight is broadcast for free into China to 350 million people, which is the total population of the United States.”
He sat up straight, a look of satisfaction on his face.
