The Venetian Macao — casino in Macau (Cotai)

The Venetian Macao is the world's largest casino by gaming floor area and one of the biggest buildings on the planet. Opened in 2007 by Sands China, the resort recreates Venice: beneath a ceiling painted with clouds run the canals of the Grand Canal, along which gondoliers ferry guests and sing arias. The gaming halls are themed after St Mark's and Rialto squares and hold hundreds of tables for baccarat, the king of Asian gambling. Besides the casino there is a shopping arcade with 350 boutiques, the 15,000-seat Cotai Arena, which hosts concerts and boxing bouts, and a hotel with more than 3,000 suites. The Venetian's campanile tower has become a symbol of the Cotai district, transformed from wasteland into an Asian Las Vegas. It was this very project that launched Macau's boom of mega-resorts, making the city the gambling capital of the world, several times larger than Vegas by turnover.