Numbers not yet confirmed
Gaming operators developing new casinos on Macau’s Cotai Strip have been concerned that the Mainland Chinese government will limit their number of gaming tables, perhaps enough to make financial projections untenable.
GGRAsia reported last week that Galaxy Entertainment’s Phase 2 expansion on Cotai should have 150 new-to-market tables. “According to industry sources, Galaxy Macau Phase 2 (GM2) is likely to be granted around 150 tables and GM2 may open with approximately 200 gaming tables and 600 slot machines,” said a note from Daiwa’s Jamie Soo and Adrian Chan.
That number has yet to be confirmed, but it would be “in line with expectations,” wrote Nomura analysts Harry Curtis, Kelvin Wong and Brian Dobson. Fewer than 100 tables “would be negative for the sector,” they said. If the Galaxy estimate is correct, added Nomura, 200 to 400 tables for the new Las Vegas Sands, MGM and Wynn resorts is “reasonable.”
Galaxy Entertainment plans to open its Phase 2 expansion as well as its new Broadway Macau on May 27. It’s the first of six new multibillion developments set to open in Cotai between this year and 2017.
