A “spectacular” property
One of the last casino resorts planned for Macau’s Cotai Strip will open before the end of the year. In a first-quarter earnings call, Jim Murren, chairman of MGM China Holdings Ltd., told investment analysts that MGM Cotai “is going to open this year in the fourth quarter and probably right after Golden Week. But it’s going to open this year for sure and it’s going to be very spectacular.”
Grant Bowie, CEO and executive director of MGM China, also said the company is “working to meet the target of the opening date in the second half of this year.”
In MGM China’s first-quarter results, filed April 27 with the Hong Kong Stock Exchange, MGM Macau in the city’s downtown reported operating income of nearly HKD568.09 million (US$73.0 million). Net revenues came in at US$502 million, up 7 percent year-on-year.
Main floor table game revenue rose 17 percent “due to an increase in hold percentage to 22.2 percent in the current year quarter, from 18.0 percent in the prior year quarter,” said a release from MGM Resorts. VIP table revenue dropped 5 percent due to a 16 percent decrease in turnover “partially offset by an increase in hold percentage to 3.4 percent in the current-year quarter, from 3.0 percent in the prior-year quarter,” the company said.
