When you think of casinos on an international scale what comes to your mind? Las Vegas? Monte Carlo? Macau? With action flics such as the James Bond series and mob-star movies such as Casino, pop culture has certainly had an influence on the way we view the casino lifestyle. Beyond Baccarat, show lounges and 99 cent buffets, today’s casino resort is much more than Joe Public’s idea of gaming entertainment. For the average gamer all it would take is a trip to Las Vegas over the last few years to realize that a typical casino vacation consists of far more than just a night at a craps table. Gaming, on a global scale, has revolutionized from basic hotel/casino properties into these mega-resorts, offering anything from Aqua Centres to amusement parks, to up their game. Creating the whole experience is paramount throughout casino resorts around the world today.

Las Vegas, a city that has already established itself as a one-stop entertainment haven, is not stopping its intense developments anytime soon. Creating the complete gaming experience for their guests is prevalent more than ever in Las Vegas today. It is not just about the quality of the rooms and the quality of the big-ticket shows anymore. Let Echelon Place be a great example of where gaming entertainment is going, on a global scale, in Las Vegas.

Echelon Place is Boyd Gaming Corporations’ replacement for the Stardust Resort & Casino. With an estimated cost of $4 million, Echelon hopes to open its doors in 2010. Plans for Echelon Place to be home to a 140,000 square foot casino floor may wow a seasoned gamer but Boyd Gaming obviously understands the shift in interests their clients are developing, especially if their clients are taking the initiative to experience casino mega-resorts from around the world. Echelon Place will be home to 4 hotels providing a total of 5,300 rooms, 25 restaurants and bars and a 650, 000 square foot Las Vegas Expo Center, a convention centre with 1 million square feet in convention floor space.

Las Vegas is not the only game in town, by any means anymore. Not only are there developments in the works within existing gaming centers, new countries are jumping on board as well. Over in Singapore, two casino licenses were awarded only just last year, with a prime objective to woo tourists into the country and to create a new job market. Two new resorts have initiated its planning and building phases. When they open Singapore will find itself as a viable competitor in the world of global gaming.

The Marina Bay Sands is the tentative name for a gaming resort being developed by Las Vegas Sands at Marina South, Singapore. The complex is expected to be completed by 2009 and will contain Singapore’s first casino. Las Vegas Sands is dumping S$3.85 billion into their Singapore baby, and that doesn’t even include the $1.2 billion it cost them to acquire the 20.6-hectare site itself. What are the plans for Marina Bay Sands? Aside from the casino itself, this mega-resort will include three hotel towers with 2,500 rooms, a 200, 000-square foot arts and science museum and 1.2 million square feet convention space capable of accommodating 52,000 people. Consider this to be one of the most expensive casinos in the world to date.

Scale Model of the Marina Bay Sands (Singapore)

The second license goes to the island of Sentosa, future home of the Resorts World at Sentosa, off the southern coast of Singapore. This S$5.2 billion dollar resort is in its planning stages with Genting International and Star Cruises and will cover a space of 49 hectares, costing upwards of about S$600 million for just the land and another S$1.6 billion just on the Universal Studios theme park. Universal Studios Singapore is an ambitious addition to this resort and will feature 22 attractions with 16 rides and seven uniquely themed areas. Also in the works at Resorts World is a Marine Life Park, holding more than 20 million gallons of salt water habitats. It will be home to whale sharks as well as over 700, 000 fish. The Marine Life Park will also include a showcase for ocean science education, research and stewardship! If a Universal Studio theme park and a the world’s largest oceanarium wasn’t enough, Resorts World will also be home to a tropical rainforest water park and an ESPA spa offering anything from post-operative rehab to a interactive dolphin programme. Whatever that entails…..it sounds expensive.

Resorts World at Sentosa

Moving from the nearly built to the already luxuriously established, casinos of Macau have been legal since the 1950s. Originally used to only house traditional Chinese games up until the 20th Century, today Macau is known as the “Monte Carlo of the Orient” or “Asian Las Vegas” because of the amount of Westernized casino mega-resorts that play a significant role in the city’s economy. The fact that the gambling industry generates over 40% of Macau’s GDP is a clear indication of how seriously they take their gaming entertainment. There are at least seventeen casinos today in Macau, certainly setting the bar of global gaming. Although most of the older casinos have the standard hotel-restaurant-casino combination things started to change in 2001 when the Macau government offered casino licenses to other casino operators, including American companies like Las Vegas Sands (Sheldon Adelson) and Wynn Resorts (Steve Wynn).

The Wynn Macau, the first phase at least, has already wowed its patrons with its lavish designs and its spectacular facilities since its opening in September of 2006. Similar to its sister in Las Vegas, The Wynn Macau is complete with designer hotel rooms, restaurants, shopping and a performance lake. The casino floor spans over 100,000 square feet complete with 212 table games and 375 slot machines. Plans for the second phase, scheduled to open late in 2007, include more table games and slot machines and a deluxe show theatre. Eventually a Wynn Diamond Suites hotel tower will join the Macau mega-resort, with all plans complete by 2010.

Opening its doors at the end of August 2007 is the Venetian Macao Resort and Hotel and not too far behind that is the completion of the MGM Grand Macau Resort, which will include a 1100-seat theatre, a 5500 square foot nightclub, and 13, 500 square feet of meeting and convention space, including a 11, 000 square foot ballroom and a 25, 000 square foot spa! Now that’s a lot of space to relax in. MGM continues their grandiose plans for Macau domination with both the Mirage Macau and Bellagio Macau next on the list to open in the next few years.

Proposed design for the Venetian Macao Resort & Hotel

Although the gambling industry in Macau is a source of instability in the Macau economy, as the nature of the gambling business is not susceptible to technological advancement or productivity growth, there doesn’t seem to be a simmer in the expansion plans for these mega-resorts. It is interesting to know that the business is still dependant on the prosperity of other Asian economies, which will soon see more heavy hitters to contend with, such as Japan and Taiwan.

On a global scale, the gaming industry gives no indication of slowing down. In fact, headlines such as Manchester’s win of a license to build a super-casino, Japan’s intentions of following Singapore’s footsteps, the further developments of Je-Ju Island in South Korea, and Taiwan’s plans to issue three casino permits, gaming has yet to see it’s full growth potential, on an international scale, giving gamers a never ending amount of options to spend their entertainment dollars.

The next time you’re planning a global gaming adventure, do your research. There certainly is no shortage of international mega-resorts up to the challenge to win you over, in all four corners of the world.