Resort to open in 2019
Macau Legend Development Ltd. has officially broken ground on a $290 million casino resort in Praia on Santiago Island, in the Cape Verde archipelago.
“This project will allow tourism in Cape Verde to reach new heights,” said Cape Verde Prime Minister José Maria Neves, who predicts such attractions will help tourism grow from 600,000 visitors to about 2 million over the next few years.
Legend CEO David Chow said the resort “will represent a new chapter in the Cape Verde tourism sector, and serve as an example of the abilities of the people of Macau in the business world.”
In July 2015, when the project was first announced, Chow said the investment is just the start of an international expansion that will help the company offset losses in Macau, which is in the 20th month of an historic recession.
According to the website CalvinAyre.com, Chow’s deal with the Cape Verde government gives Legend subsidiary CV Entertainment a 75-year land concession and a 25-year gaming concession, including a 15-year initial monopoly on gaming on Santiago Island. CV will also have a corner on online gaming and sports betting, both land-based and online, for a full decade. The unit paid HK $10.1 million (US$1.3 million) for the gaming concession.
Legend will be taxed at 10 percent of GGR, but can deduct 25 percent of that tax for high rollers during its first five years of operation. It will also be exempted from income tax for the first 10 years of its term.
According to the Macau Daily Times, Chow expects the MOP2.3 billion (US$287 million) integrated casino-resort on a 1.6 million square-foot parcel to be complete by this time in 2019. It will include office buildings, a museum, a marina, and a convention center as well as a bridge that connects the islet to the mainland.
