There are few more elegant indicators of the great global wealth transfer than the revenue-per-available-room rates reported by the US casino operator, Wynn Resorts. In the first quarter of 2008, Wynn’s revpar was $285 in Las Vegas and $244 in Macau. In the first quarter of this year, the figures were $211 to $272 in Macau’s favour.

It is difficult, indeed, to see what might upset the growth trajectory of this former Portuguese colony, the only place in China where casinos are legal. Restrictions on visas for mainland visitors and the opening of new casinos in Singapore have done much to hurt it. Gross gaming receipts of $2.5bn in March were more than three times that of three years earlier. Wynn Macau, floated in Hong Kong in October 2009, soared to a high this week as it reported first-quarter profit up 66 per cent. Its price/book spread with its Paradise, Nevada-based parent, about 10 percentage points on debut, is now pushing 27.

Tightened liquidity seems unlikely to curb demand. As Credit Suisse points out, junkets’ rolling-chip turnover – the aggregate bets placed by VIP gamblers – has continued to rise, even as China has restrained credit growth. Further restrictions on mainland visitors may not do it either, given the offsetting effect of improved travel links: a new