According to a report in the South China Morning Post visa restrictions preventing mainland Chinese residents in the Guangdong province from illegally working in Macau and Hong Kong have been lessened because of an apparent overload of visa applications. The restrictions, which have been imposed since May of this year, required Chinese residents to apply for two separate visas to visit Hong Kong and Macau, and also imposed stricter guidelines on business travelers.

In order to cut the waiting time of getting two separate visas approved, the application now permits residents to apply for both visas at once,  which allot two visits to Hong Kong and one visit to Macau over the one-year life span of the visa. Apparently there is no limit on the amount of visas issued, other than that which is limited by time.

Although China is not entirely accepting of casino gambling (Macau is the only place where it is legal at this time), the Chinese government obviously realizes the financial importance of Macau. Surpassing Las Vegas as the world's largest casino gaming Mecca last year, the continued success and growth of Macau depends largely on the influx of the Chinese residents. While Macau is indeed attracting a growing international sector, the vast majority of its business comes from "local" Chinese residents.

The real issue behind the newly relaxed visas says casino gaming analysts, is that Macau saw a 17% decrease in Chinese visitors last month, which came as a big surprise to investors on Wall Street. Although there was a week long national holiday last month, visitation was not forecasted to exceed a 9% drop. Yet, even so, last month saw an overall increase of 20% in casino revenue, which was attributed to the increasing numbers of international visitors intrigued to see what this Gambling Mecca of the World called Macau is all about.