A construction boom is underway in Las Vegas, as major casino and hotel resorts on the Strip are scrambling to renovate and expanding their facilities in an effort to reclaim the glory increasingly challenged by Macao, the new gambling center in Asia.

 

In fact, Macao has already overtaken the Las Vegas Strip in gaming revenues last year, thanks to gamblers and tourists flooding in from the Chinese mainland, Hong Kong and other Asian countries.

 

Gross gaming revenues in the territory were reportedly equivalent to 7.2 billion US dollars in 2006, compared with the 6.6 billion dollars pulled in by casinos along the Las Vegas Strip.

 

The famous boulevard in Las Vegas is looking like an unwieldy construction zone these days, with towering cranes and construction crews on nearly every block, while resort executives are talking about new face-lift efforts to help the city stay fresh and keep the glamour.

 

Caesars Palace, one of the most luxurious casino resorts on the Strip, has begun a 1 billion-dollar expansion and renovation project, which includes a 665-room tower, a "palatial" new casino entrance and three swimming pools.

 

Caesars' parent company, gaming giant Harrah's Entertainment Inc., said that the massive project would help Caesars keep pace with the rest of the Strip, where a torrent of renovations, demolitions and new projects is underway.

 

"It's a time of great competition, not only in Las Vegas, but in places like Macao," Caesars Palace President Gary Selesner said. "Everyone talks about Macao being a new Las Vegas. Las Vegas has always risen to every challenge."

 

It is the largest expansion in the resort's 41-year history and made possible in part by pop diva Celine Dion's successful four and a half year run of "A New Day" show, which has packed 4,100 fans five nights a week into the resort's Coliseum theater.

 

Other major resorts, such as the Wynn and the Venetian, are building new towers, and the Luxor hotel-casino announced last week that it would give its Egyptian-themed pyramid a 300 million-dollar makeover.

 

MGM Mirage is building the 7.4 billion-dollar City Center a mixed-use development next to the Bellagio that includes six towers -- a casino-resort, condos and boutique hotels.

 

The major projects also boast huge theaters, such as Caesars Palace's 100 million-dollar Coliseum built for Dion in 2003. When she departs Ceasars at the end of the year, veteran pop singer Bette Midler will take her place for a 200-show run.

 

Meanwhile, the Las Vegas Strip is moving away from the family-friendly focus of the 1990s, as cheap buffets have given way to celebrity chefs and nickel slots been replaced by high-stakes poker rooms.

 

The oldest casinos are being shut down and demolished to make room for new projects. The New Frontier, one of the Strip's most affordable hotels, closed Monday after 65 years, and a 5 billion-dollar project including a luxury hotel, homes, stores and a casino expected to open in 2001 in its place.

 

(Xinhua News Agency July 23, 2007)