The Next Best Thing to Being There

Viva Macau, the new online casino at www.vivamacau.com, launched this week, and I couldn’t resist taking a peek. In their press release, Viva Macau says “Macau casinos … look out,” but I wouldn’t expect online gambling to pose any serious threat to the region’s existing brick-and-mortar extravaganzas.

It is however, without a doubt, a good gambling site. You have the option of playing for fun or for money (I opted for the “for fun” mode). I launched my personal favorite, blackjack, and the site launches into background chatter and casino sounds to make the effect sound like the real thing. When you win, a pleasant female voice announces, “You win!” There are of course, scattered throughout the site, plenty of pictures of pretty Asian women holding cards. In the place where you click to go to the sportsbook section, there is a picture of a woman in a bikini. Totally unrelated to sports betting, but I would wager that visitors are more likely to click on that picture than they would an image of a big sweaty soccer player with broken teeth.

As far as online casinos go, this one looks like a winner. For me, playing online just doesn’t cut it though. The attraction of Macau’s casinos to me are being there, seeing the glitzy buildings, enjoying the shows, and just strolling down the Venetian’s “Grand Canal” and people-watching. But, one thing that Viva Macau will accomplish (besides making lots of money) is to give people a little taste of the real thing, and drive even more tourist traffic into the region. The online casino has the same name as Macau’s low-cost airline, but as far as I can tell there is no relation between the two, and the online gaming company Viva Macau is actually registered as a Costa Rican company known as Mong Ha Media. Information on who actually owns Mong Ha Media is sketchy, and the web site’s “About us” page alludes to its seasoned management team without naming any names. If I were to draw up a list of possible candidates for ownership though, that list would be very short. Anybody taking bets that Stan Ho’s involved?

With the current freeze on new casino properties, I wouldn’t be surprised if Viva Macau becomes a big success, and other online gambling sites spring up to try to copy that success.