Cotai was the result of a major land reclamation project which joined the two islands of Coloane and Taipa and forms part of the Macau government's continuous efforts to expand the region's territory.

The Cotai Strip was built upon a 5.2 square kilometer land reclamation site in the Seac Pai Bay of the Pearl River Estuary.

[5] Due to the 2008 financial crisis, as many as 11,000 construction workers were set to lose their jobs as the US gaming giant Las Vegas Sands scaled back its development in Macau.

Macao's Director of the Lands, Public Works, and Transport Bureau (DSSOPT), Jaime Carion, said on 5 December 2010, that the Government is now looking at developing non-gaming projects in Cotai.

He emphasized that the Sands China application procedure for Plots 7 and 8 was not fully complete and that the Government would announce the result at the most convenient time.

Other than a number of public bus services serving the area, many of the hotels in Cotai provide free shuttle buses for guests and visitors.

[15][16] Scheduled to be completed in 2022, Phase 4 of Galaxy Macau's expansion will primarily be non-gaming focused and will add approximately 2,000 hotel rooms to the resort.

Additional gaming space, a cineplex, an indoor water park, and facilities for meetings and exhibitions are also part of the expansion plans.

[20][21] A large glass and steel structure, named the Crystal Pavilion, housing an immersive performance space will be built adjacent to the existing Wynn Palace.

[26] SJM Holdings is in talks with Macau Theme Park and Resort Ltd to try to find a way for both companies to cooperate on Cotai, chief executive officer, Ambrose So Shu Fai, revealed on 16 December 2010.

Stanley Ho's SJM is still waiting for the Government to approve the application for a plot in Cotai, which sits just beside the Macau Dome and the land where the company, headed by businesswoman and lawmaker Angela Leong On Kei – who is also Stanley Ho's fourth wife and SJM's director –, is set to build the theme park.

[29][30] Sands China's application for Cotai plots 7 and 8 was submitted after a freeze on gaming land concession was announced back in 2008, secretary for Economy and Finance, Francis Tam Pak Yuen, explained on 15 December 2010 on the sidelines of a meeting at the Legislative Assembly.

[31] But the Land, Public Works and Transport Bureau (DSSOPT) director Jaime Carion told local media on Thursday 16 December 2010 that the plots 7 and 8 in Cotai will not be granted to either gaming operators SJM Holdings or Sands China.

Happier than if I were going to build on it," LVS chairman Sheldon Adelson said at the Bank of America Merrill Lynch Global Gaming Conference in Las Vegas, on 9 January 2011.