The Venetian Macao

The Venetian Macao (Chinese: 澳門威尼斯人, Portuguese: Macau Veneziano) is a hotel and casino resort in Macau owned by the American Las Vegas Sands company. The 39-story[1] structure on Macau's Cotai Strip has 10,500,000-square-foot (980,000 m2) of floor space, and is modeled on its sister casino resort The Venetian Las Vegas. It is the second-largest casino in the world,[2] the largest single structure hotel in Asia, and the tenth-largest building in the world by floor area.

The Venetian Macao
澳門威尼斯人 (Yue Chinese)
The Venetian Macao (2019)
Location Macau
Address Cotai Strip
Opening dateAugust 28, 2007 (2007-08-28)
ThemeVenice, Italy
No. of rooms3,000
Total gaming space550,000 sq ft (51,000 m2)
Signature attractionsCotai Arena
Casino typeLand-based
OwnerLas Vegas Sands
ArchitectAedas and HKS, Inc.
WebsiteVenetian Macao
The Venetian Macao
Traditional Chinese澳門威尼斯人
Simplified Chinese澳门威尼斯人
The Great Hall

The main hotel tower was finished in July 2007, and the resort officially opened on 28 August 2007.[3] It has 3,000 suites, 1,200,000 sq ft (110,000 m2) of convention space, 1,600,000 sq ft (150,000 m2) of retail space, and 550,000 square feet (51,000 m2) of casino space (with 3,400 slot machines, 800 gambling tables), and the 15,000-seat Cotai Arena for entertainment and sports events.

Its lead architects were Aedas and HKS, Inc., who were responsible for its design, coordination and implementation.[4]

Casino

A section of the San Luca canal

The casino measures 546,000 sq ft (50,700 m2).[5] It is further divided into four themed gaming areas:

  • Golden Fish
  • Imperial House
  • Red Dragon
  • Phoenix

The casino contains slot machines and gambling tables.

The attached hotel contains a club called Paiza Club which is reserved for premium guests. The gaming area of the Paiza Club is divided into individual private gaming rooms each named for notable Asian cities and regions such as Yunnan, Guangzhou, Hong Kong, Singapore and Kuala Lumpur.

The guests of the club have exclusive access to the club dining outlet, the Paiza Club Dining & Lounge, which is open 24 hours a day.

Entertainment

Cotai Arena

The Cotai Arena (formerly known as the Venetian Arena) is an indoor arena, opened in 2007 with a seating capacity of 2,000 - 13,500.[6] It is ideal for hosting large indoor functions such as sporting events like basketball, tennis, and boxing, as well as concerts and international televised awards shows. Events are held year-round.

The Cotai Arena has 4 levels:

  1. Event Level
  2. Main Concourse
  3. Upper Concourse
  4. VIP Level

Zaia

Zaia, a 90-minute stage production by the Canadian entertainment company Cirque du Soleil, ran between 27 August 2008 and 19 February 2012 in a custom-built theater at the Venetian Macao. The show, directed by Neilson Vignola and Gilles Maheu, featured a cast of 75 circus artists.[7] The show's theme was a young girl's perception of the stars and planets, space and infinity, populated by otherworldly creatures. The theater housing the performance seated 1,800 spectators at a time.[8]

Transportation

Macau Light Rapid Transit

The Venetian Macao is within walking distance from Cotai West Station on the Taipa section of the Macau Light Rapid Transit that serves the Cotai Strip and the larger area of Cotai.[9]

Controversies

Venetian lobby

On 12 November 2008, the gates were locked to the construction labour force from a variety of Asian countries as projects were suspended. Hsin Chong, the project manager for the Venetian, laid off approximately 400 staff. As many workers had been there for less than two years, no severance was due. The next day, Sands' president for Asia announced that up to 11,000 workers would be losing their jobs as the company was halting building projects in Macao.[10]

In 2010 the Chinese press reported that authorities had found more than 100 prostitutes inside the casino as part of a "sex-trade crackdown".[11]

In early 2011 the United States Department of Justice and the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission initiated an investigation into the Las Vegas Sands Corporation with respect to the compliance of its Macao properties with the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act.[11]

See also

References

  1. "The Venetian". Emporis.com. Archived from the original on 19 May 2007. Retrieved 23 June 2014.
  2. Casino.com (30 March 2023). "The 10 Biggest Casinos in the World in 2023". Casino.com Blog. Retrieved 26 April 2023.
  3. "Venetian Macao press release". Phx.corporate-ir.net. 27 August 2007. Retrieved 29 January 2012.
  4. "case study" (PDF). gillespieuk.co.uk.
  5. "Top-10 Largest Casinos". Casino City Times. 10 December 2007.
  6. "Cotai Arena | Venues | Macau Entertainment | The Venetian Macao". www.venetianmacao.com. Retrieved 5 May 2022.
  7. "The first permanent Cirque du Soleil show in Asia celebrates its world premiere on August 28 at the Venetian Macao-Resort-Hotel – Written and directed by Gilles Maheu". Cirque du Soleil – Press Release. Retrieved 8 February 2011.
  8. "Zaia: The Show – Theater". Cirque du Soleil. Retrieved 8 February 2011.
  9. "Cotai West Station". Macao Light Rapid Transit Corporation.
  10. "Up to 11,000 Macau workers to lose jobs". The Standard. Archived from the original on 3 February 2009.
  11. Brian Ross (27 January 2012), "Bribes, Chinese Mob Ties Alleged at Casino of Gingrich Money Man". ABC News.

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