But no table applications, says DICJ
MGM China Holdings still expects to open its new MGM Cotai resort in Macau by the end of the year.
In a filing to the Hong Kong Stock Exchange, the group said construction is moving “at a good pace,” despite the deadly typhoon that roared through the territory last month. There is “significant effort now focused on detailed finish, defect rectification and efforts related to completion and handover (including final testing and commissioning of building systems and network),” as well as installations of furniture and fixtures, the company stated.
Furthermore, the company is continuing to “work with the Macau government on the necessary inspections and approvals” to ensure the resort opens in the fourth quarter of 2017. Its total development cost is expected to reach HK$26 billion, (US$3.3 billion), “excluding land costs and capitalized interest.”
Meanwhile, MGM is “refurbishing key gaming areas” at its peninsula property and “introducing new innovative gaming products,” reported Macau Business. Further, it announced that it continues to “review our business relationship with each of our gaming promoters and identify potential gaming promoters to grow our VIP business.”
Despite MGM’s intention to open this year, Paulo Martins Chan, director of the Gaming Inspection and Coordination Bureau, says that body has received no applications for new gaming tables in Macau—including from MGM China.
Elsewhere on Cotai, the opening of the Morpheus hotel at Melco Resorts’ City of Dreams will enable that property to “remain competitive” in the face of new gaming venues, said a note from brokerage Sanford C. Bernstein Ltd.
“This addition to City of Dreams will allow the property to remain competitive considering the newer property openings targeting a similar client base (i.e., MGM Cotai and Wynn Palace),” wrote analysts Vitaly Umansky, Zhen Gong and Cathy Huang.
Melco Resorts Chairman and CEO Lawrence Ho has said the firm hoped to open the new US$1 billion, 780-room Morpheus—the fifth hotel tower at City of Dreams—in the “first quarter or second quarter” of 2018. Ho said Morpheus, which will have room for up to 50 gaming tables, was designed for Melco’s “best in-house customers,” in this case, the premium mass who play and pay in cash, unlike VIPs who rely on credit.
Though anti-corruption activity in China has “escalated significantly in recent months” and “could have implications on premium spend,” Bernstein says the city should see a 10 percent to 12 percent year-on-year uptick during the month, despite the city still struggling to recover from the impact of the devastating Typhoon Hato.
Following the typhoon, which hit in late August, two properties remain closed in Macau: Macau Legend’s Legend Palace and Galaxy’s Broadway Macau.
