Giselle Lei isn’t old enough to step inside a casino, but casinos have always been part of her life. “My whole childhood is like, ‘Oh, we’re a gambling city. Everyone comes here for gambling,'” she said.
But Ms Lei believes Macau has more to offer than games of chance.
Billions are won and lost in Macau’s opulent gaming halls every year, with the government relying on the industry for more than 80 per cent of revenue. But the risk of being so heavily dependent on a single industry can no longer be ignored.
Almost 40 million visitors piled into Macau in 2019, but the gambling capital’s luck ran out after the outbreak of COVID-19.
