Sands China hedges its bets

IT IS just past 6am on a Sunday morning, and the sprawling Venetian casino in Macau is still a hive of activity.

Packs of punters, many of them from the mainland, are huddled at blackjack tables or at one of the several thousand slot machines inside the casino.

Some, it's safe to assume, probably haven't slept the entire night, as they hold out hope of striking that elusive jackpot.

If the latest numbers are any indication, the tiny Chinese city has rubber-stamped its reputation as the hottest gambling destination in the world today - and by some distance, too.

Last year, total gaming revenue from the six operators of China's only legal casinos soared 18.6 per cent to reach US$45.2 billion.

To put things in perspective, what Macau earned last year was about seven times higher than what Las Vegas man…