Most of us tend to think that gambling and poker especially, is an American thing that comes out of Nevada and especially Las Vegas. How wrong can you be?

In 1557 the little known town of Macau was a Portugese trading port off the coast of China where sea farers and locals played Pai Gow, but it took the authorities 290 years to realise people enjoyed gambling and to pass a law in 1847 legalising games of chance.

Today Macau is bigger than Las Vegas, attracting over a million gambling tourists from all over the world. They have survived the Triad gangs in the early 2000s’ trying to take over a lucrative business industry and have attracted overseas investors such as MGM, Grand Lisboa and Crown from Australia to name but a few.

In 2002 there was a major birthing in the poker industry with the World Poker Tour and World Series of Poker televised tournaments, creating a huge hype in the industry. In 2007 Galaxy Starworld Casino introduced Texas Hold Em and within three months the first Asia Pacific Poker Tournament was underway. 2008 saw the publication of the official laws of Hold Em published by the government and not long after Grand Lisboa Casino was offering live dealer games.

Today there is a full range of games for the gambling man, from Roulette, Sic Bo, Baccarat and Black Jack to dog and horse racing. Poker Stars hosts the Asian live Poker tournaments in Macau at the City of Dreams Casino. So next time when you have some cash to burn and want to experience something different go visit Macau.