Macau’s first VIP slots room proving a dud

Macau’s first VIP slots room is proving a dud less than one month after it opened.

Macau’s SJM Holdings-licensed Jimei Casino welcomed the special administrative region’s first ever junket-run VIP slots room last month but – in the immortal words of Spinal Tap manager Ian Faith – its appeal is already becoming more selective.

On a recent visit, a Bloomberg Business reporter found that the slots room had taken all of one week to scrap its original membership fee of HKD 100k (US $12,850). Despite this lowered hurdle – and pitchmen announcing that the machines allow HKD 1 spins – the room’s operator Zhang Zheng was the only one observed actually playing the machines.

Unlike North American casinos, slots have always been something of an afterthought in Macau. Slots earned total revenue of MOP 11.75b ($1.47b) in Macau last year, down from MOP 14.4b in 2014, while VIP and mass market baccarat accounted for a combined MOP 204b.