Popular Culture Review Vol. 17, No. 2, Summer 2006 | Page 30

26 Popular Culture Review without uttering a word. It’s all understood once someone reaches over and plunks down twice the amount of the bet. These practices that are deemed outrageous in Las Vegas are seen as normal and appropriate in Macau, and identify one as a seriously cool gambler. To keep their sharpness and focus on the game, the gamblers drink tea at the tables instead of alcoholic beverages. Another factor distinguishing the Macau casinos is the heavy smoke filling the room. The gamblers tend to chain smoke as they play. There are no smoke-free sections. In fact, this trait distinguishes the new American-owned Sands Macau from other casinos in Macau. In the Sands Macau, a good-sized section of the casino is designated for non-smokers, something not seen in other clubs. It should be noted that there is less activity in this section of the Sands Macau than in the larger section that allows smoking. The older Macau casinos have a strong masculine character and most of the gamblers are male. A sideshow in some of the casinos in Macau is the parade of young prostitutes. While prostitution may be readily available in Las Vegas, there is a substantial and continual effort to limit its visibility. This is not the case in Macau casinos. The circular hallway that winds through the restaurant and shop complex of the Lisboa is notable for the continuous parade of pairs and trios of young, well-dressed Asian women searching for eye contact with interested males. The lack of these women in the Sands Macau distinguishes it from the other casinos, and identifies it with the owners’ Las Vegas roots. Streetwalkers are also common in areas near the casinos, including a large group of Russian women. The Russians are called “ghost women” by the locals in reference to their white skin. They are found on street comers, and at a location on a walking street behind the downtown Holiday Inn, not far from a number of casinos. Here a large group of them is known to be available every afternoon and evening as they sit around tables in front of a restaurant socializing and sipping sodas—and propositioning passersby. They seem to have no trouble from police. Rethinking Cultural Globalization Cultural globalization is often thought of as a one-way flow, a dominant society infusing its cultural contents into a weaker one. While we can see evidence of that in Macau as it is being recreated into Las Vegas East, something else is also happening that may make it necessary for the flow to be two-way in order for Las Vegas to maintain its premier gaming status. Macau, the stepchild of Las Vegas, has become a revenue-generating powerhouse. Analysts from the brokerage house CLSA Asia-Pacific Markets predict Macau’s casinos could bring in $6.3 billion in 2005, nearly a 20 percent increase from the $5.33 billion in 2004 (New York Times). That 2004 figure was equal to the total revenue brought in by all casinos on the Las Vegas Strip that year, and not far from the $6.25 billion revenue for 2004 for the whole of Las Vegas that includes The Strip, Downtown, and North Las Vegas (Nevada State Gaming Control Board).