MGM Grand Macau opened its doors officially on 18 December, 2007. This is the second casino-hotel to open in my few months here, the first being The Venetian Macao. The opening was nowhere as grand and exciting as The Venetian's but the hotel itself is a lot classier and much more service oriented than the tacky and common-place Venetian.

Personally, I think the Venetian drew so much hype and publicity only because it is the first to bring the concept driven and integrated idea to this part of the world. Back at Las Vegas, the concept is common to all -- Bellagio, Caesar's Palace, Treasure Island, Paris, New York New York, Aladdin, to name just a few -- whereas over here, it's been the boring traditional smoky Chinese casino-hotel. Of course, its size (big, big, big) doesn't hurt.

Anyways, this pretty addition to the glittering night skyline of Macau drew a big crowd to its casino on the first night. Doors to the casino opened at 11pm and when we ventured over from the boring party to the casino around midnight, it was packed. Way too crowded to try our luck without being squashed and inhaling too much second-hand smoke. It was still packed on the second night, but we spotted an empty blackjack (the only game that I know how to play) table on our way out and couldn't help trying our luck at the newly opened casino. Pretty good, doubled my capital of HKD500 with the help of advice from all around the table. That evens out the HKD500 that I lost at Crown in August.

Yes, I'm keeping track. And glad that I can keep track. ;)

Labels: macau