Although the lights are still on along the popular Cotai strip, the throngs of people that used to pour in and out of Macau’s many hotels and casinos are no longer there. In the gambling capital of the world, many tables today sit empty, with entire sections of some casinos completely closed off due to lack of business.
This transformation has upended the lives of Macau’s residents. Groove Kuok, 33, has not had a full-time job in months. For seven years, he worked at a firm operating VIP gaming rooms in the city, where he earned around 40,000 patacas ($5,000) a month by analyzing clientele’s win rates.
