“Virtually all” floor areas in Galaxy Macau Phases 3 and 4 will be given over to non-gaming facilities, said the chairman of Macau casino operator Galaxy Entertainment Group Ltd in the firm’s 2016 annual report filed on Friday.
“Galaxy Entertainment continues to move forward with Phases 3 and 4 with the potential to commence construction in late first-quarter or early second-quarter 2017, with virtually all floor areas allocated to non-gaming and primarily targeting MICE, entertainment and family facilities,” said Lui Che Woo. He was referring firstly to the next stages of the group’s flagship Cotai casino resort Galaxy Macau, and latterly to the non-gaming activity segment known as meetings incentives, conferences and exhibitions (MICE).
Some casino jurisdictions mandate the maximum amount of floor area in a venue that can be allocated to casino gaming. But investment analysts have noted that gaming areas in so-called integrated resorts typically offer much higher yields than non-gaming areas. As a result, a small amount of resort floor area in percentage terms has the potential to provide the bulk of the earnings in a property.
“The central government… reiterated its support towards Macau to develop in the direction of ‘One Centre, One Platform’, i.e. the World Centre of Tourism and Leisure and the Commercial and Trading Services Platform for China and Portuguese-speaking Countries, which will benefit all of Macau,” stated the chairman.
Mr Lui also mentioned Macau’s “forthcoming Tourism Industry Plan,” as another example of government support for the sector. The later was a reference to the “Macao Tourism Industry Development Master Plan”. The plan – to cover an array of topics including tourism products, destination marketing and tourism carrying capacity – is to be completed this year, according to the head of the Macao Government Tourism Office, Maria Helena de Senna Fernandes.
He added that the venues would include facilities aimed at family visitors and young adults.
For the HKD19.6-billion Galaxy Macau Phase 2, Galaxy Entertainment received an aggregate of 250 new-to-market gaming tables under the Macau government’s table cap, between the facility’s launch in May 2015 and January 2016.Studio City, 60-percent owned by Melco Crown Entertainment Ltd, led by Lawrence Ho Yau Lung, opened in October 2015 and got 250 new tables for its US$3.2-billion spend.
Projects opening since then have had smaller new-to-market table allocations from the city’s government, relative to the amount of investment. Wynn Macau got 150 new tables for its US$4.4 billion Wynn Palace resort, which launched in August last year. Sand China Ltd got the same number of new tables for its US$2.7-billion Parisian Macao venue, which opened in September.
