Gross gaming revenues in Macao blew away Wall Street analysts’ estimates of 19% growth, posting a 36.5% gain. Deutsche Bank analyst 
Carlo Santarelli still advised caution for the near future, writing, “While [Chinese New Year] generates a lot of hype, the month around the holiday has often tended to bring about disappointment as the periods into and post the holiday tend to offset the primarily mass strength during the holiday.” There was n0 breakdown of how market share was divided among the six operators, so we should hope for greater clarity in the future.
According to architect Paul Steelman, who has considerable experience in Macao, U.S. operators are going about it the wrong way back home. Says Steelman, “the Asian customer wants the casino so much brighter. We didn’t actually realize that until we renovated StarWorld. We took a very dark casino and made it a very bright casino and the casino win metrics proved significantly that the Asian gambler wants the casino to be lighter, brighter, crisper than normal.” (Wynn Boston Harbor is adopting some of Steelman’s precepts.)
“In Vegas it’s always a little bit about hiding,” Steelman continues. “If you read some of the books about casino design from 10 or 15 years ago, 
they are all about creating confusing layouts with dark colors, dark lighting and things of this nature. I wish I had known in 2004 that we could have a brighter, more brilliant casino and in fact have it be more successful.” Steelman defends themed casinos, promising that Resorts World Las Vegas will be the first themed casino on the Strip in 18 years.
As for Millennials, “We’re a little bit concerned about that … Most of our customers have been asking us to predict the future. It takes us about five years to do one of these buildings, and what is in the future?” He sees slot players as going the way of sports-book players, with a more of trend toward pools and related amenities, adding, “In terms of what the millennials actually want, it’s all over the board. We do not believe that architects coming up with the ‘hip’ thing for that particular moment is good for these buildings. The hip thing is in one week and out the next. We can’t do what clothing brands do and design things for one season. These casinos are designed for 50 years.”
* Atlantic City‘s Internet casinos will have two new contenders to deal with. Bruce Deifik‘s Ocean Resort Casino (formerly Revel) has filed an application for online gambling, as has Hard Rock Atlantic City. Depending on the speed with which the applications are processed they could be competing in the Internet sphere before the terrestrial one. Ocean Resort will reopen with 2,200 slots and 100 table games, as well as what it proclaims will be “the best sports book on the market,” although the Supreme Court will have something to say about that. Deifik’s got his work cut out for him, considering that Hard Rock has $500 million in capital improvements being made. Your move, Bruce.
