Roulette in Macau
The largest casino market in the world, where roulette is a side dish to baccarat and the wheels are single zero.
Macau’s six concessionaires run roulette on every floor, almost always with a single zero at 2.70%, alongside electronic multi-terminal wheels. Online gambling is illegal; the market is built on visitors from the mainland and the whole of Asia. Baccarat takes about nine tenths of the revenue.
The land picture
Portuguese Macau licensed gambling in the 1840s and granted a monopoly to Stanley Ho’s STDM in 1962. After the 1999 handover the monopoly ended. In 2002 Macau granted three concessions, to SJM, Galaxy and Wynn, and each let a partner in through a sub-concession: Sands in 2002, MGM in 2005 and Melco in 2006. A public tender in 2022 replaced that system with six ten-year concessions from January 2023, to the same six operators, with new obligations on non-gaming investment and responsible gambling. The Cotai Strip, reclaimed land between Taipa and Coloane, holds the large integrated resorts; the peninsula holds the older houses.
Why roulette is small here
Macau’s revenue is baccarat: historically 85–90% of the gaming floor. Roulette sits with sic bo and the slots in the mass-market remainder. The operators keep it because visitors expect it and because electronic terminals pack a hundred players around one wheel. The single zerowheelZeroThe single green pocket that no even-money, dozen or column bet covers; the source of the house edge. Also: single zero, 0.Read full → is the norm because the market was built by European-trained operators and the comparison shopper here looks at the baccarat commission, not the roulette pocketsequipmentPocketOne of the 37 numbered compartments on the rotor. Also: slot, cup.Read full →.
Online
Online gambling is illegal in Macau for operators and players; the territory licenses no remote casinos and blocks what it can. The large gray market serving the mainland from elsewhere in Asia is not Macau’s and offers no protection. A player in Macau who wants roulette plays it on the floor.
Regulation and the player
The Gaming Inspection and Coordination Bureau (DICJ) licenses and inspects. Since 2023 the law requires self-exclusion facilities and caps on the number of tables per operator. Entry is 21 and over; casino employees may not gamble in Macau casinos. Smoking is restricted to smoking lounges. Dress is informal on the mass floor.
Portuguese administration licenses gambling houses.
STDM monopoly under Stanley Ho.
Handover to China; gaming law reform follows.
Three concessions (SJM, Galaxy, Wynn); sub-concessions follow in 2002–2006; Sands Macao opens 2004.
Venetian Macao opens on Cotai; electronic roulette stadiums arrive.
Macau gaming revenue peaks at about US$45 billion, seven times Las Vegas.
Six new ten-year concessions after a public tender, with responsible-gambling and non-gaming obligations.
Advice for a visitor
Expect single-zero wheels, high minimums on the live tables (HK$100–300 is common on Cotai) and much lower minimums at the electronic terminals, where the odds are the same. La partageruleLa partageFrench rule: when zero hits, half of an even-money stake is returned. Halves the house edge on those bets to 1.35%.Read full → is not offered. Tipping is not customary. The cheapest honest roulette in Macau is a terminal seat at a stadium wheel.
Help lines by country
Questions
Essentially none. The market is single zero throughout.
Yes, in Macau. Gambling is illegal in the mainland, and cross-border promotion of gambling has been prosecuted since 2021.
Same wheel, same payoutsmoneyPayoutWhat a winning bet returns, quoted as “X to 1” on top of the returned stake.Read full →, no la partage. Expect the dealer to call in Cantonese and English.
Comic relief
The biggest casino city on earth, and roulette is the quiet table.
Sources
- Schwartz, D. G. Roll the Bones: The History of Gambling.
- Gaming Inspection and Coordination Bureau (DICJ).