A stat that hasn’t really permeated the consciousness of the average American is this:

Las Vegas no longer is the world’s biggest gambling spot, in terms of collective casino revenues.

Macao is. And has been since 2006. And probably will be for years to come.

Las Vegas hasn’t exactly been trumpeting its “we’re No. 2!” status, has it? But it is.

Actually, it might be more accurate to think of Vegas as North America’s Macao.

After two-plus months here in Hong Kong, we decided to go have a look at Macao, the other not-quite-Beijing-run enclave left in China.

On the surface, Macao and Hong Kong have a lot in common. Overwhelmingly Chinese, Cantonese-speaking, massively urban and elbow-to-elbow crowded.

Dig a little deeper, and they are quite different.

The five biggest differences between Macao (I’m going with the International Herald Tribune spelling here, even though it’s often written as Macau) and Hong Kong:

1. Gambling.

2. A Portuguese heritage, instead of British.

3. Some actual remnants of European colonization, including buildings and even a bit of lifestyle.

4. Gambling.

5. Gambling.

Casinos aren’t legal in Hong Kong. Chalk it up to British prudism. Even though the Chinese are known as perhaps the most enthusiastic gamblers among any population on the face of the earth, you can’t go play cards here. No Pai Gow. None of that. Not legally, anyway. A little horse racing, and that’s about it.

But on Macao? It’s Vegas, baby! The skyline now is dominated by casinos, some of them indigenous to local business but most of the newest and biggest run by the monster companies that own Las Vegas casinos. Among the brand names in Macao now: The Wynn, MGM, Sands, the Venetian … sound familiar?

Gambling is huge in Macao because it’s huge among the Chinese and it’s a semi-convenient place to get to. It’s an hour from Hong Kong via jet-powered ferry (which is much less a barf-ride than the littler, slower ferries that ply the routes between Hong Kong Island and surrounding areas). And it’s maybe two hours by ferry from Guangzhou, formerly known as Canton, just up the Pearl River.

I am proud to say … we did not spend one second in a casino, when we got there. I’m quite confident the only difference between the interior of a Macao casino and a Vegas casino is that the former is filled mostly with Chinese losing money they can’t afford to lose … and the latter is filled mostly by anglos, Latinos, blacks losing money they can’t afford to lose.

(Truly successful people do not do their gambling on games of chance in which the house is guaranteed to come out on top.)

We went to Macao for two reasons: To see it, and look around the colonial remnants in the center of the city … and to clear up our visa situation here in Hong Kong.

First, the scenery. It’s fun.

Hong Kong is a business place. It’s a go-go banking and financial and trade center, and it didn’t have time or inclination to preserve much of anything that went on here when the place was an English colony. You can scour the north shore of the island, where nearly all of us live, and not find five buildings from the colonial period.

Macao, meanwhile, was the laggard, when it came to development. Because the Portuguese were involved, and they were never very good at running an empire. Macao just sort of sat there for hundreds of years, the seedy little brother of Hong Kong, known for gambling and generic vice. But that sluggishness in moving forward allowed Macao to save some of its colonial heritage.

And in this very Chinese city you have several blocks downtown that could have been lifted out of any country in southern Europe. Italy, Spain and, of course, Portugal.

Downtown is a square surrounded by old, distinctively Portuguese-inspired buildings. Colored vividly, in that Iberian way. Tiles and flooring that remind you of Europe. Cathedrals, or what is left of them. All the sorts of thing Hong Kong paved over decades ago, and repaved over a couple more times since then.

So it’s fun, in that sense. It feels very, very different to be walking around the main square, and up the streets around it. Brightly lit, colorful, and certainly not Chinese in the layout or architecture.

We had dinner at a place named Aphonso III, and it could have been on any street in Europe. From the paving to the modest (four/five-story) buildings on each side (in Hong Kong, everything is 20 stories and up), to the little cars parked along the narrow road. (In HK, nobody owns a car, and he certainly can’t and wouldn’t park it on a street.)

And a little jammed European-style/size/feel cafe, where meals are meant to be leisurely, and for parties of two or four and not the mass-production, eat-and-get-out dining that is so much a part of Hong Kong daily life.

We ate a place serving “Macanese” food — that is, Portuguese with strong local influences. It was OK. It was fine. Not as good as its reviews in guide books. But nice. And ample. By far the biggest portions we have seen in Asia. The proprietor appears to be Portuguese, a big rumpled gentleman of perhaps 60, whose No. 1 assistant (his wife?) is a humorless, almost crabby Filipina (I’m thinking) and whose help in the back is, apparently, mostly Filipino, as well. (And one Chinese waitress, who seemed scared to death of the owner’s wife.) Oh, and for the record, nearly everyone in the place, the customers, were English-speakers. Whether they were Chinese (Singaporeans, it seemed; some Chinese-Canadians) or Europeans. It gave it the sort of “using my second language” charm of your basic semi-formal continental dining experience.

I liked Macao. I was prepared not to. But staying away from the casinos, focusing on the old heart of the city … it may not quite be “charming” now that it is overwhelmed by Chinese tourists … but it at least isn’t just one squished bustling city.

The other reason we were there is to clear up our visas, as I mentioned. Tourists from the U.S. can stay in HK for up to 90 days. After that, you have to leave, go through some other jurisdiction, and then you can come back for another 90 days — or longer, if you get a work visa.

We had been in HK for 60-some days, and with time in December being sort of tight, and us pushing that 90-day limit by the end of the month, we decided to “leave the country” on Saturday, go through passport control, customs … enter Macao at the ferry area … have dinner, look around … and then leave that “country” and return to Hong Kong.

Where now we can stay for quite some time again. In my case, for up to a year, because I have a special work visa.

So, Macao … interesting place. Maybe we can get some pictures up here to give you more of an idea of how it looks. The old city center … it’s worth seeing, but there isn’t much of it, so one day should be enough.

The rest of it? It’s Las Vegas, and that is something you don’t need to see, really. (Though the entertainment there dwarfs that of HK, which is 10 times as populated; the casinos grab the big names, and HK people go over there, I guess, for their culture.)

I think back to the one-night Vegas runs staffers at the San Bernardino Sun used to take because it was “only” 230 miles away. Macao is a one-hour boat ride from HK. It’s even easier to get to than Vegas is from the Inland Empire, and I shudder to think how much time and money would have been lost there had the guys I knew when I was in my 20s and 30s had such easy access to casinos like Macao’s.

I’m not sure I will go back anytime soon. But I’m glad I saw it. And odd, weird place, ultimately, with a dollop of sleepy old Portuguese colonial charm … that now is just a little sideshow to the flashing lights and ringing bells and clamor of the most profitable casinos in the world.