Shares of gaming company, Melco-Crown (MPEL), have been in a seemingly never-ending downward spiral as the entire gaming industry has faltered.

Jefferies analyst, Larry Klatzkin, was recently quoted by Bloomberg as seeing "Tremendous upside" for shares of Melco-Crown and has a buy rating on the stock with a recently revised $18 price target for the next 12 months. That is quite a gap from the current share price of near $6 per share.

Macau, now known as the "Las Vegas of China", is already set to pass the entire Las Vegas Metropolitan area (Clark County), not just the Las Vegas Strip, in terms of gaming revenue in 2008. This is fueled by the fact that Macau is the only area in China where gambling is legal, where enormous wealth is being created, and where the average Chinese gambler has an expectation of beating the house.

This has begun to grab the attention of investors looking to take part in the upside in the future of Macau that may soon leave Las Vegas looking like Reno (no offense, Reno). Currently, there are only 6 companies that hold concessions and sub concessions to manage casinos. These include: Las Vegas Sands (LVS), Wynn Resorts (WYNN), Galaxy Entertainment [0027.HK], Melco-PBL (MPEL) [soon to be called Melco-Crown], MGM Mirage (MGM), and Sociedade de Jogos de Macau.