Casa Real Casino

Introduction

Casa Real Hotel and Casino is adjacent to Casino Jai Alai and very close to the Ferry Terminal that can take you to Hong Kong, Kowloon, China, or the Hong Kong International Airport (via Turbojet). It costs $13 HK (less than $2 USD) to take a taxi from the Ferry Terminal or there are also a few free shuttle buses (or a 10-minute walk gets you to the hotel). If you want free transportation, you can always walk to the Ferry Terminal from Casa Real and take any shuttle bus to any of the main casinos. I also walked to the Sands and Fishermans Wharf which took 5 or 10 minutes. Everyone seems to complain about taxi prices in Macau, but they are more than willing to throw $100 to $1000 US down a hand. I spent most of my money on gifts, taxis, and great food at the Wynn (I suggest Restaurant Red — the Chef's recommended pork dish). You can also see pandas in Macau (Xin Xin and Kai Kai) past the Venetian in Seac Pai Van Park. Unfortunately, the pandas were closed when I went.

I stayed at Casa Real for two weekday nights in January 2011 and it cost me $75 per night, including all taxes and fees, which I booked on Expedia. I took the ferry from the Kowloon China Ferry Terminal for about $150 HKD. It took about 45 minutes and offered some nice views. The interior hotel room is nice and they provide you with free toothbrushes, water bottles, shaving kits, bath robes, and other. Here are some pictures of my room:

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Floor 8 is the only one non-smoking floor, so be sure to ask for that one.

There is a free fitness center and pool, although it was inconveniently closed for maintenance during my stay. I went in anyway and they had blankets over all the equipment, so maybe they had a bug problem or were doing something else. Here are pictures that I took of the fitness center and their brochure for the pool:

There is a small caf near the lobby that has very small coffees (not worth it), some baked goods like egg tarts, and two computers with free internet.

In my room, I had wired internet but it was rather slow. I was able to Skype, but not upload pictures quickly. Theyll give you a complementary late check out if you ask, which is advertised. Buffet costs about $70 HK but I wasnt that adventurous.

The Casa Real Casino offers some of the lowest table minimums that I found anywhere. It also offers a large halo of cigarette smoke near any of the table games. I was also the only Westerner and got some weird looks. This place is very Chinese...so, I couldn't figure out all the rules of the games because some had no translations. There seems to be good rewards for play, but I couldn't read it because it was in Chinese. Here is a picture of some rewards program that I dont understand:

For slot machines, there are four 2¢ slots, six 5¢ slots, about thirty 10¢ slots, about twenty 20¢ slots, and a few 50¢ and $1 slots. There is also one roulette and one sic bo video game with eight seats each. They offer much higher payouts than the table games with maximum bets of $200 to $300 HK. Minimum bets for both games are $5 HK. Video roulette only has one zero, an actual wheel in the center, and pays 36 to 1 for a correct number with a minimum $5 HK bet. 1 to 12 bets or 2 to 24 bets cost 15 and pay 3 to 1. Video Sic Bo has three actual dice in the middle and pays higher than the Wynn and Venetian. The payouts for 1 betting unit are as follows: specific triple (191), any triple (32), spot numbers (4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9 , 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16 , 17 payout 63, 32, 19, 13, 9, 8, 7, 7, 8, 9, 13, 19, 32, 63 respectively). Minimum bet is $5 for a spot, $15 for Big/Small, and $5 per game.

I started playing one of the slot machines with a samurai theme. This attracted the cleaning staff in the casino and all the women were cheering me on. Since Macau doesn't have many slot players, this was a welcome distraction for the employees...me slowing losing my $100 HKD. I did not find any video poker, but saw some at the Wynn, Venetian, and Hard Rock (in City of Dreams). Hard Rock was the only one that paid the full 4000 credits for 5 credits in the machinethe others took 100 credits to get the high royal flush ratio. The slot section of Casa Real is a nice quiet place if you are looking to be left alone and not lose too much cash. There is a rewards booth next to it and there were at least 20 prizes including a free room, cigarettes, free dinners, and souvenirs. The free room was 6,000 points but I do not know the point structure.

For table games, there are about thirty tables in total. There are some additional tables downstairs near the lobby with higher minimums. If you play the table games, there is a restaurant within the gaming section that serves you tea and food. Youll get these big metallic cups for tea. Table game details are as follows:

• 1 x 100 min Blackjack (3:2 BJ, Surrender, Insurance 2:1, Stands on 17, and Extra Paired Bet (your first two cards are same JJ, 55, KK,) pays 11:1 with 50 minimum)
• 1 x 50 min Sic Bo (Payouts are much worse than video: specific triple (150), any triple (24), and the spots are 50,
• 18, 14, 12, 8, 7, 6, 6, 7, 8, 12, 14, 18, 50. The double bet on the bottom pay 6 to 1 versus 7 to 1 on the video version) 3 x 50 min Baccarat
• 3 x 100 min Baccarat
• 9+ x 200 min Baccarat
• 3 x 300 min Baccarat
• 1 x 500 min Baccarat
• 1 x 1000 min Baccarat (no maximum bet, but max payout is 200,000)
• 1 x 100 min Game with a Bunch of White Buttons that number in the single digits no idea what it is called. The buttons look like they should be on my shirt.

Some other attractions near Casa Real that I recommend are the tea garden and fishermans wharf. You can walk or take a $13 HKD taxi. I left Macau via the ferry and went straight to Hong Kong Airport (customs only happens oncespecial route) for about $200 HKD. Below are some pictures of the tea garden and fishermans wharf within walking distance:

Address: Avenida do. Dr. Rodrigo Rodrigues 1118, Macau
Phone: (853) 2872-7791
Web site: www.casarealhotel.com.mo

Posted by James K. James K.