HKtraveller

I had a little issue yesterday with the staff of the bar in sands. I had a Macau beer draught and when the bill came, I paid the 23 MOP with a bill of 20 Patacas, 2 coins of 1 Pataca and 2 coins of 50 avos (cents).
They refused to accept the 2 small coins (worth about 0.065 US$ each) and told me they are not going to accept any coin smaller that 1 MOP.

I got upset and gave them 3 options:

1. give me a written confirmation that they are not going to accept the legal tender in coins in reasonable quantity.
2. let me talk to the manager.
3. accept short payment of 1 pataca.

after talking to the 3rd senior they got to talk to me and refusing to fork out another note which would have left me with a lot of coins (I was not in the mood of tipping anymore anyway) they agreed to accept the coins.

Maybe people with notes smaller than 1000 would be refused access some time ahead when business gets good enough.

rkkwan

They are the same morons that allow a 16-year old to get into the casino, but refuses to pay her when she hit a jackpot on a slot machine earlier this year. The Macau gaming board had to force Sands to pony up the cash after the dispute.

No, I have not spent an avo there, and not planning to. Nor is their new Venetian (oh well, unless they have good hotel rates. ) And I'm not interested in their future ferry either. I'll take Turbojet, thank you.

neuro0

Not just Macau, the small coins issues is more common than you think. A lot of HK shops refuse any coins small than a dollar for example. In New York city, some shops would not accept coins other than quarters. Talk about legal tender, what a

rkkwan

I have never been rejected in Hong Kong for using a HK coin in my whole life - having lived there for 17 years and visiting over a dozen of times in the more recent 19 years.

If a store or a taxi driver doesn't want my HK$0.1, 0.2 or 0.5 coins, they'll just say forget it and round it down.

Now, of course, if you're trying to pay for $20 of goods with 40 HK$0.5 coins, that's another matter.

And even though there are plenty of fake HK$10 coins, local stores or taxi drivers still cannot refuse them. [Those merchants in Macau or China that usually will take HK currency, however, won't take HK$10 coins and are very careful with HK$1,000 bills.]

The only time a legal HK tender is a problem was with the HSBC 2000/2002 $1,000 bills earlier this year. There were so many of the fake ones out there a lot of smaller merchants did put out signs that said "sorry, but we can't take those bills".

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Oh, sorry, I almost forgot. In 1983 when the future of Hong Kong first became an issue, the HKD dropped very quickly. Against the USD, it went down from about 1USD=5HKD to under 10HKD. There was a lot of panic, and there were reports that owners of fresh vegetable and meat stalls would only take US Dollars from customers only. The hysteria went away after a short while, fortunately.

I don't know if similar things happened during another turbulent times in the late 60's when there was fear that the PLA would retake HK by force. I wasn't born yet.

slickalick

Umm...why are they morons? They surely cannot check the ID of every one of the 14-30k people who walk into that building everyday.

I would suspect that the 16-year old could have passed for someone older, and the Sands should have been within their right to refuse payment as it is illegal for someone under 18 to wager a bet (technically not illegal to enter a casino). Also, do you have a link for this story as i couldn't find anything on the net about it.

Have witnessed something similar in LV, the Casino refused to pay out, punter called cops, cops escorted punter out of the casino after verifying that he was only 15. But IMO he could have passed for 20-21.

Also i'd be VERY interested to hear your reasons for;

"No, I have not spent an avo there, and not planning to. Nor is their new Venetian (oh well, unless they have good hotel rates. ) And I'm not interested in their future ferry either. I'll take Turbojet, thank you."

rkkwan

Actually, they can check ID of everybody that goes in. All of the Macanese casinos have tight security at all entrances. Some, like the Pharoah in the Landmark, even require registration and a member's card to get in. The set up of casinos are very different from those in Las Vegas. That's how things are there, and it's Sand's responsibility to prohibit underage persons for going into the casinos.

The reason I call them morons is that the incident created pretty big news in Macanese and Hong Kong media, and the responses are quite negative. And even after the Macanese gaming board informally tell them to just pay the girl and her mom the money, they refused; prolonging the inquiries and news for several more days before the gaming board ruled they have to pay. How does that help the image of Sands for 1) allowing underage persons to enter the casino floors and 2) being so sour against the customers and the gaming board during the whole thing?

Anyways, I'll very interested to see how the Venetian holds up and if they can fill all the suites in the hotel. To me, the style and scale of their operations in Macau strike me as somewhat insensitive to local customs and tradition. However, I can't really blame them though. The Macanese government wants Las Vegas to come, and Sands is clearly bringing the real thing in.

slickalick

Thanks for your reply. You are as usual very insightful.

Just one comment - I'm glad you mentioned the Pharoah casino at the Landmark. According to the DICJ annual submissions, this casino had the lowest revenue per table in all of Macau in the last quarter. Can you imagine that even the old floating casino (where you literally have to wake up the dealers when you walk in) had a higher take than the Pharoah. Also it has been reported in local press that three junket operators have sold their stakes in the VIP business at the casino according to HK Standard.

If i was a high ranking corrupt mainland chinese official, i definitely wouldn't want to 'register' and have my entry and exit logged on their system.

The tight security at every casino consists of a metal detector and a bag check - almost as capable as the TSA.

Just a few of my thoughts about Sands/Venetian;

Yes i believe that 3000 rooms maybe a bit much for Macau at first sight. However, im certain that they are not just relying on the existing markets to fill up their rooms - they are look to create their own markets completely. High profile sporting events (Sampras vs. Roderer in November, fight nights etc.) , large scale exhibitions on a Comdex/Magic Show scale, tap in to the huge incentive market (non existant in Macau at the moment) - i know that HK has just lost a 400pax incentive group from Germany to Macau in December. And another 2x280pax group from Australia (VivaMacau has coincidentally started flying to SYD). Also they have an existing customer base (from their US operations) that they can tap in to. Word is that extremely cheap/free junket tours will be offered to their existing customers - and not just the high rollers - in the US (Source: My host at the Venetian LV).

So overall, I do believe that they have all the infrastructure and facilities to tap in to these markets and fully exploit them. It is the hotels/casinos like Starworld, Grand Lisboa etc, and to some extent the Wynn who will lose out as they don't have the infrastructure to enter these markets successfully.

Just one more question for you if i may.

"To me, the style and scale of their operations in Macau strike me as somewhat insensitive to local customs and tradition."

What are the local customs and tradition in relation to casino style and operation?

rkkwan

Thanks for the information about the Pharoah. Yes, you're right. Those money launderers certainly don't want to register to play.

To answer your last question. Well, I've been thinking more about this. I guess I really shouldn't blame Sands/Venetian for their success. They are a for-profit company, and it's their mission to produce the biggest profit for their shareholders.

I guess it's the Macanese and Chinese officials that should be "blamed" for allowing this massive explosion of development. What I feel said is that all these Wynns and Venetians are mostly LV clones with little Chinese/Portugese/Macanese flavor in them. Whether one likes the "Golden Egg" or not, at least you feel like you're in Macau when you step into the Grand Lisboa. And the scale of the developments had been causing quite a bit of unease in the local population, including the protest/scuffle on May 1st this year.

But again, like I said, the government stated clearly their goal was to bring Las Vegas to Macau. And they did.

Anyways, I am no gambler myself, though I do go into the casinos to take a look. At least they've been restoring the historical sites and keeping them in better shapes than ever. I have to thank all the Chinese gamblers for paying for all that!

HKtraveller

I don't know how you get the name Roderer. It is Sampras vs. Federer, and yes, it needs very powerful people to get that match set up. But the whole project looks somewhat megalomanic to me. Only future can tell. And if the whole thing (especially the profits) get too much out of hands for their taste, Beijing might throw in a word or two.

HkCaGu

Back to money, yellowish coin (<$1) usage have dramatically decreased as Octopus acceptance increased in HK, but why the refusal in Macau?

I remember the old QE2 $0.01 notes saying something to the effect "can't use more than 100". What happened to the $0.01 note? (I sure haven't seen one without the young (30s-ish) QE2!

rkkwan

The one-cent notes are no longer legal tender. Can't remember the date it was effective, but it was quite a while now. In 1995 from what I've read.