Macau’s Gaming Inspection and Coordination Bureau (DICJ) has approved the allocation of more than 100 new-to-market live dealer gaming tables to MGM Cotai, just in time for the scheduled grand opening of the facility next month.
Secretary for Economy and Finance Lionel Leong Vai Tac announced on Wednesday that MGM Cotai will get 100 new gaming tables this year and an additional 25 tables next year, according to The Macau Daily Post.
Tac said MGM China will also move 77 tables from MGM Macau to the new Cotai property. The DICJ also allowed the installation of some 900 slot machines at the Cotai resort.
The number of allocated gaming tables, however, was lower than analysts’ expectations of 150.
International brokerage Union Gaming believes that the lower table allocation has something to do with MGM’s license expiration in early 2020. The advisory firm remains optimistic that MGM Cotai will still end up landing the 150 tables after its license expiration situation has been resolved.
Should MGM eventually get 150 tables, Union Gaming analyst Grant Govertsen said that the state regulator still has wiggle room to allocate 482 tables.
Macau’s latest quarterly data show that the former Portuguese enclave’s casino market had 6,419 live-dealer tables.
Meanwhile, MGM China has deferred MGM Cotai‘s grand opening to February 13, 2018, just three days before the Chinese New Year holiday period.
In a press statement, MGM said it will not open the doors of MGM Cotai on January 29 as it focuses on the facility’s grand opening next month. The good news for investors is that the overall budget remains unchanged at HKD27 billion (US$3.45 billion), according to the casino operator.
This was the second time that MGM postponed the opening of MGM Cotai, which was originally slated to open before Macau’s Golden Week in October.
