Macau is an interesting mix of Portuguese and Chinese culture. It is a good example of how history is ever present, as Macau is one of the reminiscences of 16th Century history when Europe and China clashed. Even more interestingly many hundreds of years later it became the Asian capital of gambling, and three recent news highlight this fact.

First it was reported that some of the top poker players in the world congregated in Macau to play against wealthy businessmen in million dollar duels. Prominent members of Full Tilt Poker such as Phil Ivey and Tom Dwan made the trip in pre-organized games, and the latter is rumored to have won over 6 million dollars in one particular match.

Use a full tilt bonus code to register at Full Tilt where you can see these pros playing online poker and learn from them. The story is that Las Vegas used to be the place where the highest stakes ring games used to be played daily, but now it is said that these games are drying up. But the action is moving to the East and with the economic rise of China, successful and wealthy Chinese businessmen are keen on challenging the best players in their home turf at high rollers casinos in Macau.

The second piece of news goes in the same vein as it was reported that the profits from gambling in Macau are skyrocketing while Las Vegas is still in a deep recession. By some measures the profits of Macau would be currently a few times the profits of all casinos in Las Vegas. Here again this shows how the tide is moving to Asia in many aspects of wealth creation and spending.

Finally the third relevant news that came out in the past few weeks is about Stanley Ho, who is the tycoon controlling the casino monopoly in Macau. He is in the middle of some legal battles against two of his four wives and ex-wives with regard to his inheritance and how it will be split among his 17 children. At 90 years old, he remains the leading and most recognized figure of Macau, but his relatives are not waiting for his death to start already trying to get a share of his billions.

Stanley Ho is certainly one of the savviest businessmen from Asia, as he managed to obtain the gambling monopoly from the Macau Government in 1961 and still owns it to this day.