On January 26th, 2009, in the biggest casino facilities on the Las Vegas Strip, no detail from dining to decorations is overlooked when it comes to the Chinese New Year, an event that rakes in hundreds of millions of dollars to Nevada casinos. The Chinese New Year is considered to be an advertising fulcrum for campaigns that are aimed at several of Las Vegas Strip’s important market, from Asian high-rollers to regular gamblers from Southern California to middle-class Chinese tourists.
Al Faccinto, the president of international marketing for MGM Mirage, the biggest gaming resort company in Nevada said that they are talking about one of the most highly anticipated events in the year. He added that you need to be on top of your game whether there are ten people coming or one thousand people coming. Even before the start of the Chinese New Year, Facinto and his staff of more than one hundred people have been preparing for it for weeks.
They have organized an elaborate party at the Bellagio for nearly three thousand customers and an elaborate display in the casino’s conservatory and they have also organized elaborate Chinese Lion Dances at the Bellagio, MGM Grand Mirage and Mandalay Bay. Caesars Palace, which have started marketing the holiday as early as 1975 and have also decorated and opened two authentic Chinese restaurants for the 2009 Chinese New Year, which signals the Year of the Ox. The Venetian, Palazzo, Wynn Las Vegas and Encore, the latter of which was made with Asian players in mind, also prepared for the event.
Among the best evidence of the rise of the Chinese New Year in the Las Vegas strip is the baccarat play. The amount of the baccarat during the Chinese New Year has improved from $455.6 million in 1996 to more than $1 billion last year. But like the improvement of Las Vegas, the improvement of the Chinese New Year into an exchange of more than $1 billion between players and Nevada casino facilities coincide with the financial crisis that finally burst in last year.
It is still to early to determine the overall fallout, but it will likely mean less Asian player money pouring into Las Vegas strip, at least for now. Jeremy Aguero of the economics research firm Applied Analysis said that overall, the game of baccarat’s important has been vital to the economy of Las Vegas. Generally, casino facilities around the Las Vegas strip are hopeful about their prospects for the year despite the financial crisis.
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