Stanley Au: Macau casino operators are “too ambitious”

The Small and Medium Enterprises Association (SMEA) is urging the Macau government to downsize the scale of the gaming industry in the city.

Stanley Au, head of SMEA, said that the decline in gaming revenue in Macau is attributable to the China’s corruption crackdown, which drove high rollers away from the gambling hub and new casinos won’t restore the gaming industry.

In May, Galaxy Entertainment Group has launched its Galaxy Macau Phase 2, the first new major resort Macau has welcomed in three years and arrived in a time of relative scarcity, followed by the opening of the $3.2b Hollywood-inspired Studio City in October and this is just the beginning…

A whole host of new casino projects are expected to open in the next few years. The $4.1b Wynn Palace is scheduled to open in four months’ time. Sands’ Parisian Macao warned that its $2.7b might not meet the April 2016 deadline but targets second half of 2016 as the launch date. MGM Resorts International makes its Cotai debut next year with a US$3b casino resort while SJM’s Lisboa Palace is set to open in 2017.