Steve Wynn has come to town - Well to Macau that is - And he promises he will change the place even more...., Jennifer Welker reports on Wynn's World.

See photo: Make no doubt, Wynn's arrived.

A lady never leaves her escort
It isn't fair, it isn't nice
A lady doesn't wander all over the room
And blow on some other guy's dice

Lets keep this party polite
Never get out of my sight
Stick with me baby, I'm the guy that you came in with
Luck be a lady tonight

- "Luck be a Lady", Frank Sinatra

Steve Wynn, the Las Vegas casino hotel owner who dreamed up the Bellagio and Mirage has a reputation for doing things differently, and paying very close attention to detail.

That attention to detail is very new to Macau, a city that is growing at breakneck speed.

"People have told me, ‘This is Macau, Steve. It's only about gambling.' But I told them: ‘I warn you, because you only know what was.'

"A lot of people struggle with what might be," he said. "I live in the world of what might be. I think people love places that are clean, beautiful, have gardens, plants, colour, flowers, great scenery and a loving staff, so that's what I want to give them."

Last Tuesday, Wynn opened the 600-guestroom Wynn Macau with spa, restaurants, and of course Bulgari, Chanel, Christian Dior, Fendi, Giorgio Armani, Louis Vuitton, Piaget, Prada and Tiffany & Co. His hotel opens two years after his Las Vegas competitor, Sheldon Adelson opened his Sands casino in Macau.

"Yes, I wish we could have been in this spot earlier, but God knows we have a brand to protect," Wynn said.

"We are here now to bring a new day, and a new experience to Macau. This is not a gambling hall with just baccarat tables. We don't build down-and-dirty quickies. I'm a little slow, and it takes me a long time to work out all the details. We're hardly ever first, but we are always better. You just can't be in a rush. What's a year or two among friends?

"This hotel, take to a larger scale, will be the future of this city. Outside this building is a new Macau. Here, we give people room to breathe with greenery along the front of the hotel. Families can walk through the restaurants without ever entering the casinos is they wish."

Change has come

Wynn is expected to expand this property, perhaps adding a theatre for shows, and will build a new casino hotel along the 100,000-square metre Cotai Strip across from Adelson's Venetian Hotel and Casino. Adelson already has Cirque de Soleil lined up for performances at his property, so it will be interesting to see what entertainment Wynn will bring in.

"The Venetian will make Macau stronger. People say there could end up being a glut of hotels here, but I think Macau will not grow in spite of development, but because of the development. The visitor volume has already increased. In the past, tourism here was one-dimensional. It was gaming. Period. Now Macau is being enriched at a pace never seen before. The speed of development is dizzying."

"We're here to broaden the market. "We were selected by the government of Macau to bring change (to the city) and now change has come."

Fireworks exploded on opening night, playing to the tune of Frank Sinatra's "Luck be a Lady".

Macau is expected to turn the tables of gambling on its head and surpass Las Vegas this year as the world's largest entertainment destination.

That's why Steve Wynn chose Jack Binion, who ran the famous Horseshoe casino in Las Vegas, to run Wynn Resorts' international operations and oversee the development of the casino on the Cotai Strip.

"When Steve told me how big things were here [in Macau], I knew I had to come," Binion, chairman of Wynn International said. "I would not have given up retirement to come here, if it wasn't this important."

Jennifer Welker, an American and nomad by birth, has made Asia her home. Since her childhood, she has lived in Hong Kong, mainland China and Macau where she published her first travel book. The New Macau is Macau's latest and most comprehensive travel book covering the city's newest entertainment destinations, while reflecting back on its rich and intriguing past.

Fluent in both spoken and written Chinese, Jennifer is current editor of Destination China, a Red Ant Media Group magazine and writes for the www.thetransitcafe.com well. as