As always, much is happening in Macau. Here is some of the stuff we’ve been hearing lately:
Macau Market
- May was the first HK$ billion slot month
- Wynn, MGM, and SJM Cotai sites may get gazetted as soon as in the next 4-5 weeks
MPEL
- Neptune will be opening a new VIP room at City of Dreams in July/August – Neptune is one of the largest junkets in Macau so this could be significant for MPEL
- City of Dreams may be looking into converting its Dragon Dome Theater into a giant VIP operation – may be talking to the Guandong VIP Group to run it. We think Guandong currently has operations at Wynn and Starworld.
- MPEL may get rid of its dual management structure and leave Ted Chan fully in charge
- City of Dreams pumped in some extra junket liquidity ahead of the Galaxy Macau opening
- We still think Studio City might be back on the agenda possibly with MPEL investing in addition to procuring a management contract
Galaxy
- Galaxy Macau may be cannibalizing 30-35% of Starworld’s VIP volume
- We’re hearing that Galaxy may have pumped as much as HK$1.6-2.0 billion in liquidity to its junkets through the opening of Galaxy Macau
LVS/Sands China
- Neptune and Sun City are finalizing deals with Venetian Macau to open up VIP rooms
- Staffing has been a problem so the rooms may not open until July/August
- LVS still struggling to grow its VIP share
- We’re skeptical that FS apartments will get approved anytime in the foreseeable future - the public airing of dirty laundry in the Jacobs case isn’t helping their cause
