Macau has made a move to rein in the casino juggernaut that has seen the Chinese enclave overtake Las Vegas as the gambling capital of the world by stopping the issue of new casino concessions and freezing land allocations for the building of even more casinos.

Land to be reclaimed in the future will also not be used for gaming purposes, while the government will also clamp down on the number of gaming tables and slot machines at the existing casinos.

In the recent past, Macau has welcomed with open arms Las Vegas gaming giants such as Wynn Resorts and the Las Vegas Sands Corp, which built the Venetian Macau. However, Macau’s Chief Executive, Edmund Ho, has moved to curb the growth of the industry, partly due to the wishes of Beijing.

“At this stage we’ve held some assessments and discussions and followed the Central Government’s (Beijing’s) directives on the gaming industry and decided to take these policy measures,” Mr Ho said.

Under current rules, there are three casino licences and three sub-licenses which see six companies operate 29 casinos, although some observers feel that may well change in the future.

“There might be a possibility of the smaller casinos merging into the bigger casinos,” said Larry So, a Macau academic and political commentator. “We may see some of the smaller ones close up.”

In the shorter term, the news is sure to benefit existing operators, including Australian billionaire James Packer, who has a joint venture with Melco PBL Entertainment on casino properties in Macau.

His second project, The City of Dreams, is due to open next year and will be the first ever underwater casino, while there is already the Crown Macau.

The casinos have energised the former Portuguese colony and contribute almost 60 percent of the GDP, which has more than tripled since it returned to China in 1999. However, the casino boom has also caused an ever-growing number of anti-government protests over what is seen as an increasing wealth gap, exacerbated by food and property price inflation, and the spawning of social ills such as organised crime, money laundering and corruption.

So it would appear that Las Vegas with planned investment in the casino and non- gaming industry over the next few years is sure to regain its mantle.

Of course, you don’t have to travel to either to experience the thrills and spills on the tables, you can play casino games online now.