The rise of Las Vegas also helped popularize new online casino usa gambling in many other corners of the world. Betting became more of a mainstream form of entertainment rather than something simply for the “wilder” crowd.
Casinos became popular in a number of European countries including:
• Monaco
• United Kingdom
• Germany
• Greece
• Portugal
• Ireland
• Bulgaria
• Hungary
• Italy
• Sweden
The popularity of gambling also shot up in Asia where many countries started hosting casinos and sports betting sites in addition to Macau. For example, there are at least 35 casinos/betting sites in the Philippines, 30 in Cambodia, 31 in South Korea and 27 in Japan.
In 2002, new legislation allowed Western casino operators like Las Vegas Sands, Wynn Resorts and the Galaxy Entertainment Group to build resorts on the island. The Sands Macau was the first to open in 2004. In 2007, Macau surpassed Las Vegas as the world’s leader in gaming revenue.
The future of international gambling looks bright as even during the height of the recent economic downturn, casino resorts were still able to prosper.