by Mario Alfonsi | Published on Jun 10, 2012 | Updated on Jun 10, 2012Over the last few years, no market in the live gambling world has grown at nearly the pace that Macau has. The Chinese gambling enclave has been fueled by Asian visitors playing baccarat, slots, and – increasingly – poker. There have been tales of high stakes games in Macau that make the games played in Las Vegas seem like micro-stakes, with pro players trading tales of winning and losing millions in single hands.But apparently, this growth isn’t coming without at least a few hiccups. This week, PokerStars announced that they were cancelling their Macau Poker Cup events in August, which came as a surprise to many players looking forward to the events.The online poker giant has been sponsoring a number of tournaments in Macau, as they do with their regional poker tours around the world. In fact, there’s still a PokerStars-sponsored event that just started in Macau this weekend, known as Macau Poker Cup: Red Dragon. That series is being held at the Grand Waldo Entertainment Complex.The reasons behind the cancellation weren’t entirely clear.“Due to events beyond our reasonable control, the Macau Poker Cup scheduled for August is, regrettably, being cancelled,” said Danny McDonagh, PokerStars’ Director of Live Poker Operations for the Asia-Pacific. “We cannot yet confirm the scheduling of PokerStars Macau special events for the rest of 2012, but hope to do so as soon as possible.”The news comes at a time when Macau’s astronomical growth rate finally seems to be slowing down. While year-over-year revenues grew at 7.3% in May, that’s down from a 21.9% annual growth rate in April.Still, Macau is easily the largest gambling hub in the world, and McDonagh’s comments seemed to suggest that PokerStars will attempt to continue staging events there.“I assure all our loyal players and partners that PokerStars Macau is still deeply committed to creating the best poker experience in the world,” he said.
