No matter what you think of casino gambling you have to admit that when they began building modern Vegas-style casinos in Macau in 2000, they hit the jackpot.

By November of 2013, revenues for gambling in Macau had reached $40 billion, about six times what Las Vegas casinos produce.

With a full month to go, Macau has already surpassed 2012’s total of $38 billion in gambling revenues and expects a growth of almost 19 percent over 2012 when this year’s final numbers come in.

Today there are 35 casinos in Macau and eight more under construction.

The center of gambling in Macau is the Cotai Strip where the Las Vegas Sands Corp., Wynn Resorts Ltd., and MGM Resorts International are all building new casinos. All three companies already operate successful casinos in Macau.

The Las Vegas Sands Corporation owns most of the real estate on the Cotai Strip where the Venetian Resort Macao, the Four Seasons Macau and the Sands Cotai Central all operate. The Sands Cotai Central consists of the Conrad Macau, Holiday Inn Macau and the Sheraton Macau.

The Sheraton Macau, which at 3,896 rooms, is Starwood’s largest hotel. This vast property has been symbolic of Macau’s lightning strike growth. The two-tower hotel is reaching out to the U.S. market with other come-ons then gambling. Americans generally don’t fly to Asia to play black jack.

Ruth Boston, the hotel’s general manager for sales & marketing, recommends that agents stress the old part of Macau with its UNESCO World Heritage listed monuments that tell the story of the Portuguese colony that existed on the Macau Peninsula for hundreds of years before it was returned to China.

“We want to become more of a part of an American’s tour of China. Our city has that interesting cultural blend of Portuguese and Chinese not only in its monuments but also in its food, a wonderful hybrid cuisine.”

Just as Las Vegas did years ago, there’s a movement afoot in Macau to diversify the offering beyond casinos to more family attractions and big time events like Macau’s famous Grand Prix, boxing matches and A-list performances.

Coming soon to Macau will be the Manny Pacquiao-Brandon Rios fight as well as a stop on the Rolling Stones world tour.

The full arrival of Macau as a destination adds impetus to the ongoing Pearl River Delta (PRD) campaign. The PRD combines Macau, Hong Kong and Guangdong Province into one marketing destination. The PRD brand should get a large boost in 2016 when a 26-mile, $10 billion bridge, the longest in the world, will open connecting Hong Kong, Macau and Zhuhai.

It will make the entire PRD an easy destination to explore by road. The old Hong Kong Macau Ferry, an hour-long ride, will have to compete against a 20-minute drive from Hong Kong’s Central District into Macau.

“That bridge,” says Boston, “is going to change everything. In 2020 you’ll see a completely different landscape.”

In 2012, Macau attracted 28.1 million visitors.