Macau Commits $16bn of Its Own Money to Cutting Its Dependence on Casinos

Macau will spend more than $16 billion trying to reduce its reliance on casino gambling, with Chief Executive Sam Hou Fai setting a target of raising non-gaming sectors to 60% of GDP by 2030.

The plan, badged "New Blueprint, New Journey, New Opportunities", covers the next five years and centres on a guidance fund seeded with MOP130 billion (US$16.1 billion) for economic diversification and deeper integration with Hengqin, the special economic zone across the border in Guangdong. "Over the next five years, the Macau SAR Government will continue its efforts to promote appropriate economic diversification, leveraging Macau's strengths and resource endowment to focus on key areas," Sam said, framing it as essential to the "One Country, Two Systems" arrangement with Beijing.

The money is earmarked for finishing the University of Macau's Hengqin campus by 2030, a technology research industrial park, the Macau National Museum of Culture and a performing arts venue. It also covers infrastructure at the Macau International Airport Hengqin Upstream Cargo Terminal, urban renewal, and conservation work around historic sites including the Ruins of St. Paul's.

The dependence being addressed is extreme. Macau remains the richest casino market in the world, with players losing $30.9 billion in 2025, more than double the Las Vegas Strip, and casino taxes account for more than 80 cents of every government tax dollar. That concentration, plus Xi Jinping's concerns about capital outflows from the mainland presenting a national security issue, drove the crackdown on VIP junket groups that began in late 2021.

The new fund matches an earlier demand made of the industry. In 2022 the SAR required its six casino concessionaires to invest $16 billion in non-gaming amenities as a condition of their licences. Sam's government is now putting up the same amount itself.