The Casino Lisboa in 1999, the year Macau was transferred from Portuguese to Chinese rule. The Lisboa was once a seedy place; guarded by a battalion of cops with automatic weapons, it was the stomping grounds of gangsters like Broken Tooth, who was arrested in a suite at the Lisboa's hotel in 1998. Today, however, it is a Macau icon, with a lobby filled with tourists jostling to pose next to the casino's life-sized gingerbread house. The Lisboa's transformation is representative of some of the broader changes that have taken place throughout the territory.
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