At the moment, Macau's potential seems brighter than Vegas neon. Over the first 11 months of 2004, 15.2 million tourists visited Macau, up 42% from the year before—an amazing number for a territory with a population of only 450,000 people. More impressive is the money they blow at the tables and slots. Last year, Macau's casinos raked in about $5.1 billion, up 34% from 2003. That's about the same as the Las Vegas Strip's gambling revenues. In fact, Marc Falcone, gaming analyst at Deutsche Bank in New York City, predicts that Macau will surpass the Strip this year. With 20% annual growth in gaming revenues expected over the next five years, Falcone says Macau could overtake the whole of Nevada as the world's biggest gaming market by the end of the decade.

That would make Macau the gambling center of the world. And why not? Its potential market is more than a billion people who live within a three-hour flight from the city. (Vegas, in contrast, has just 250 million residing within the same radius.) The rise of Asia's middle class means more and more potential punters have disposable income to splurge on roulette wheels and slot machines. In China alone, per-capita income has surged about 8% a year for the past two decades. Leisure time is expanding, and Asians who are obsessed with getting and spending are putting less emphasis on the former and more on the latter. "Modern Chinese are more receptive to Western lifestyles," says Francis Lui, director of Galaxy Resort & Casino, which is investing $700 million in three hotels in Macau. "Macau is in the right place at the right time."

Prentice Salter thinks so too—and he's grabbing a piece of the action. In 2002 the 33-year-old had a plum job managing the bars, clubs and restaurants at the Palms hotel in Las Vegas. But he left it behind when Adelson's company offered him a job in its new Macau venture. Salter was sent on a six-week tour of China's 10 largest cities to gather intelligence on what Chinese would want in a casino. He met with rich businessmen, slurped noodles with the locals, marveled at the country's spectacular growth, and became convinced that Macau was a sure thing. "I came back and was like, 'Yeah! This is a no-brainer,'" Salter beams. "So I sold the house, sold the car, sold the dog, flushed the fish down the toilet, and moved to China!"

Salter spent more than two years as the Sands' food-and-beverage director, then quit his job late last year. But he has no plans to return to Vegas, preferring to wager his future on Macau, where he's now planning his own gaming projects.

He now lives in an apartment on Macau's Taipa island that he's renovated into a pad so luxurious that the Rat Pack would feel right at home. The master bedroom boasts a Jacuzzi and a king-size bed elevated on a platform; the spacious kitchen has a professional beer tap. From a balcony, Salter enjoys a panoramic view of Macau peninsula, complete with flashing casino signs and a forest of construction cranes building new gaming parlors, hotels and other landmarks. "Imagine if I was on the ground in Vegas at Day One," Salter says. "Macau is going to do the same thing, but bigger and better."

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	Macau's Big Score [May. 25, 2004] An old gambling town is being jolted out of its slumber by an influx of Las Vegas high rollers The Ties that Bind [Jun. 28, 2004] Chinese tourists and closer links with the booming Pearl River Delta are bringing Hong Kong up to speed Spanning the Pearl Delta [Aug. 22, 2003] Long foiled by red tape and politics, a new bridge promises to link Hong Kong, Macau and the mainland Macau Offers a Fusion of Flavors—By the Ton [Nov. 12, 2001] The Macanese judge a restaurant on quality but also on whether quantity is sufficient to warrant a table-side stomach pump Crossing The Line [Apr. 30, 2001] Proximate, permissive and packed with illicit pleasures, Shenzhen has become a haven for Hong Kong's bad behavior More Related Items | Search all issues of TIME Magazine