Influx of Chinese gamblers tests Macau's capacity for growth

The world's busiest casino town is straining to handle the affections of the world's largest population.

By the boatload, gamblers gripping Chinese passports pour off ferries and cram, sardinelike, into a customs building in this once-sleepy former Portuguese colony on China's coast. They line up, hundreds deep on a weekend morning, for an entry stamp. Then they line up again for scarce taxis or catch shuttle buses into a town bristling with new casinos, fountains and resorts.

"I think it's become overwhelming," said David Green, a casino expert for accounting firm PricewaterhouseCoopers in Macau. "The infrastructure isn't really cut out to deal with that."

On a patch of land just one-sixth as large as Washington, D.C., Macau surpassed sprawling Las Vegas last year in gaming revenues, thanks to a growing deluge of mainland Chinese tourists. They are transforming this place faster than imperialism and organized crime ever did.