Macau Casinos and Gambling News

[pearl river]

there are still alot of vacanies in the current job market which gives an indication that many of the 9,600 unemployed will not apply for the 22000 new jobs

[pearl river]

Originally Posted by FourSeasons

Based on just these two projects, Macau will need at least (22,000 - 9,600= 12,400) of new employees from outside moving to Macau. Let's say one residential unit will occupy 3 to 4 new immigrant, that means at least 3,100 to 4,200 of residential units of new accommodation will be needed. Look like rental market may face a bottleneck next year.

Taipa might be a good bet as it is closest to the action

[pearl river]

New resorts to use majority local labour is ‘unrealistic’
17/07/2010 01:14:00 Vítor Quintã

The hiring of 22,000 people for the new Cotai resorts would increase the competition for workers, creating ‘a challenge to local SME’
Galaxy’s claim that the vast majority of the 7,000 Galaxy Macau workers will be locals “is unrealistic,” economist Henry Lei has told Macau Daily Times (MDT). The University of Macau professor also warned that the hiring of 22,000 people for the new Cotai resorts would increase the competition for workers, creating “a challenge to local SME [Small and Medium Enterprises].”

‘The local labour market may not be able to supply this number of workers, nor supplying this number at a reasonable wage’According to MSS Recruitment’s Macau Job Market 2010 overview, released last week, the opening of the Galaxy Macau and the Sands China parcels 5 and 6 in Cotai will require 22,000 more workers. “I doubt that these operators would actually hire 22,000 people,” Lei said.
Either way, the program coordinator and assistant professor of Economics believes “the local labour market may not be able to supply this number of workers, nor supplying this number at a ‘reasonable’ wage.” After all, he recalled, the unemployment rate “has returned to the pre-financial crisis level” and is now at 2.9 percent.
Galaxy’s senior vice president for human resources and administration, Trevor Martin, told MSS Recruitment the vast majority of the Galaxy Macau personnel would be locals. However, Henry Lei stresses that “some” of the around 9,600 unemployed “do not have the skills to work in casinos.” “The operators may eventually need to hire imported workers to fill up the gap between labour demand and supply,” he said.

Hiring will affect imported ratio

“From the point of view of businessmen,” Lei stated, “they do prefer an easy, convenient and low cost source of external labour force.” In fact, he added, that is one reason why the gaming companies sometimes complain about the bureaucracy in applying for non-resident workers – “this is a kind of pressure by the casino operators on the Government.”
With 22,000 more job openings, the labour demand will spike, “increasing the extent of competition between gaming and non-gaming sector for workers,” the economist said. This new round of recruitment will be “a challenge to local SME,” he confirmed. The Macau Small and Medium Enterprises Association told MDT on Thursday that “a large number of employees will transfer from SME to casino operators,” worsening this sector’s human resource shortage.
Furthermore, Lei believes the hiring of 22,000 people will also “for sure affect the formation of the local/imported workers ratio.” An imported labour monitoring group was created to analyse the needs of Macau’s economic sectors and it is expected to set up a ratio between local and non-resident staff for the gaming industry. “I do think that an appropriate ratio should be flexible and specific for each sector, which should be subject to review and re-assessment from time to time,” the economist explained.

[hkskyline]

Macau December Casino Revenue Rises 66% to $2.36 Billion on China Tourism
Bloomberg

By Wendy Leung and Marco Lui - Jan 3, 2011 Casino revenue in Macau, the world’s largest casino hub, surged 66 percent to 18.9 billion patacas ($2.36 billion) in December as an increasing number of Chinese gamblers visited the city.

Sales for casinos in Macau, the only place in China where they’re legal, surged 58 percent to 188.3 billion patacas last year, according to data from Macau’s Gaming Inspection and Coordination Bureau. China, which contributes more than half the number of tourists to Macau, may grow 10 percent in 2010, according to the median forecast of 18 economists surveyed by Bloomberg.

Macau’s visitor arrivals rose 15 percent to 22.7 million in the first eleven months, with more than 80 percent coming from mainland China and Hong Kong, the city’s tourism agency said. Tourists from mainland China increased 20.5 percent in the first 11 months, according to the agency’s data.

“The key driver was the higher average spend by an increasing number of mainland tourists,” Aaron Fischer, a Hong Kong-based analyst for CLSA Ltd., said today. “What surprised us was how strong the growth remained in the second part of December.”

Wynn Macau Ltd., the Hong Kong-listed casino unit of Wynn Resorts Ltd., climbed 5.7 percent, the most in more than two months, to HK$18.40, the highest since it started trading in October 2009.

SJM, Galaxy

Billionaire Stanley Ho’s SJM Holdings Ltd. rose 3.4 percent to HK$12.76, Sands China Ltd. gained 1.6 percent to HK$17.36 and Galaxy Entertainment Group Ltd. surged 5.6 percent to HK$9.29. Melco International Development Ltd., which has a joint venture with with Australian billionaire James Packer’s Crown Ltd., advanced 5.9 percent to HK$4.70.

“We believe gaming revenues will remain extremely robust in 2011 and increase by at least 20 percent during the year,” CLSA’s Fischer said. “We also expect another 25 percent growth next year as 2012 benefits from a full year of two new large scale resorts being opened.”

Galaxy is building a $1.9 billion casino resort, which it plans to open this year, on the Cotai Strip, where Sands China operates the Venetian Macau and Melco Crown Entertainment Ltd. has its City of Dreams.

Sands China is building St. Regis, Shangri-La, Sheraton and Traders resorts on sites 5 and 6 of the Cotai Strip. Billionaire Sheldon Adelson, Las Vegas Sands Corp.’s chief executive officer, has said he plans to recreate the Las Vegas Strip on Macau’s 1.8-mile length of reclaimed land between Macau’s Coloane and Taipa Islands to boost the non-gambling portion of casino operators’ earnings.

Market Share

SJM had the biggest market share among the former Portuguese colony’s six casino operators, with 30.6 percent in December, said Huei Suen Ng, a Hong Kong-based analyst for CLSA. Wynn Macau had 16.9 percent, followed by Sands China at 16.4 percent and Melco Crown with 14.2 percent, the analyst said.

MGM Grand Paradise SA, a venture between the Las Vegas Strip’s biggest casino operator and Stanley Ho’s daughter Pansy Ho, had 11.6 percent, according to CLSA’s estimates while Galaxy had 10.3 percent.

Macau surpassed the Las Vegas Strip as the world’s biggest gambling hub in 2006, after the government ended Stanley Ho’s four-decade gambling monopoly and allowed the entry of foreign operators.

[Linguine]

Any new developments or news on this thread....thanks.

[Muchenyi]

No news, good news!

[malonie]

Originally Posted by Linguine

Any new developments or news on this thread....thanks.

Yes, the new Galaxy will open end of April. All staff needed has been employed already. If you have not rented out your flat yet, you are in trouble.

[bosshp]

Originally Posted by Muchenyi

No news, good news!

[Linguine]

Originally Posted by malonie

Yes, the new Galaxy will open end of April. All staff needed has been employed already. If you have not rented out your flat yet, you are in trouble.

Thanks....

[NuncaPior]

Wynn's bluff...

Wynn Cotai ‘not yet approved’: Francis Tam

20/09/2011


Wynn Macau’s land concession in Cotai has not been approved yet, secretary for Economy and Finance, Francis Tam Pak Yuen, said yesterday.
“Companies may release their news, and the news should correspond to reality. Anyhow these news release won’t affect the process,” the secretary told reporters.
Last week, the local gaming operator announced in a statement sent to the Hong Kong stock exchange that they had agreed to pay a MOP 1.55 billion premium to the government for a block of land in Cotai. On that same day, the Land, Public Works and Transport Bureau (DSSOPT) said the request for a land concession was still being reviewed and the government was yet to make a final decision.
Yesterday, according to Tam “The process of reviewing land concession requests follows specific rules.” He indirectly hinted however the request could be approved sooner or later.
“The government has already said that land concession requests for gaming projects filed before 2008 would be approved. But those submitted after 2008 would not. Wynn is one of the operators that filed the request before that timeline,” he added.
He went on: “Some land in Cotai has not yet been granted, but that will likely happen in five-year’s time. The government did not say it would not approve [Wynn’s land request], but the final decision is not official yet.”
In Macau, land concessions are usually gazetted years after the agreement is reached.
Last week, Wynn said it had “formally accepted the terms and conditions of a land concession contract for approximately 51 acres [20.6 hectares] of land” and had already placed a fence around the block, located next to City of Dreams resort and the Macau University of Science and Technology campus, a company spokesperson told Macau Daily Times.

Studio City ‘must apply’ for gaming tables

Melco Crown Entertainment will have to submit an application to the government in order to include gaming amenities in the Macao Studio City project, the secretary for Economy and Finance, Francis Tam Pak Yuen told reporters yesterday, on the sidelines of a public event.
It was the first time the executive made a clear remark on the case. The gaming operator announced in June that it had gained control of the long delayed project, after buying a 60 percent share in the Cotai resort developer for MOP 2.1 billion. They also said the property is intended to have 300 to 400 tables and 1,200 gaming machines when it opens.

However, secretary for Transport and Public Works Lau Si Io had said no casino was included in a 2008 development plan, which states that the project for Macao Studio City primarily contains hotels and a film production enterprise.
After Melco’s announcement, the director of Land, Public Works and Transport Bureau (DSSOPT) Jaime Carion reaffirmed the government’s position, though he did not deny immediately that the property would not have gaming amenities.
The 2008 development plan of the project has never been made public and the last plan unveiled in the Official Gazette dates to 2001.
Back then, the land concession contract set that the Cotai project included film production studios, restaurants and residential units, but no gaming amenities

According to the operator, the MOP 1.55 billion premium was to be divided in one down payment, and eight semi-annual payments, while the rent was set at MOP 6.17 million a year. In May, chairman and chief executive officer of Wynn Resorts, Steve Wynn, told local media the company would start construction of the project as soon as the land was granted. The cost of the new project in Macau is expected to exceed MOP 20 billion and open within four or five year’s time, in late 2014 or early 2015.
Secretary Tam also reminded that the government would only allow the number of tables to increase by three percent until 2020, when some gaming licences are scheduled to expire. At this moment, SJM and MGM are also still waiting for the government’s reply concerning their Cotai reques.
Francis Tam meanwhile announced the government is working on a new legal system for the construction and location of casinos, slot machines and lottery houses, which will be ready in the first semester of next year. “The government’s stance is very clear: slot machine rooms have to move away from residential areas,” the secretary stressed.
This policy was announced in 2007. “Slot machines and lottery houses are banned in residential buildings and those that already exist will be relocated,” he recalled.

‘Total trust’ in AMCM

Asked to comment on the recent International Monetary Fund’s (IMF) report on the Monetary Authority (AMCM), Tam expressed the government’s total support of the local financial authority.
“During the international financial crisis, Macau economic and financial sectors were kept stable, so we have total trust in the financial system of Macau and our outlook towards AMCM’s work is positive,” Tam said.
He assured the government “will not politically influence AMCM’s operations” and stated the body had “sufficient capability to supervise financial and banking activities.”
The IMF report finger pointed towards “shortcomings in the operational independence” of AMCM and slammed its “lack of independence.”
Currently, the authority comes under the secretary for Economy and Finance, but the international organisation recommended it should be granted independence from the SAR Government.

Tam was speaking to reporters on the sidelines of the seminar on the implementation of the mainland China and Macau Closer Economic Partnership Arrangement (CEPA)’s model cities that took place yesterday, at the Venetian Macau.
The SAR secretary and deputy general director of the department of Taiwan, Hong Kong and Macau Affairs of the Chinese Ministry of Commerce, Sun Tong, remarked in their speeches that the partnership has been “implemented effectively”.
Tam said Macau economic sectors had developed thanks to CEPA, but that the next target would be to focus on the service trade.


in macaudailytimes.com

[NuncaPior]

Chan Meng Kam quer explicações sobre COTAI

O deputado Chan Meng Kam exigiu ao Governo uma explicação sobre o aproveitamento de terrenos do COTAI que têm sido associados a operadoras do Jogo, como a Wynn, MGM e SJM, que submeteram os respectivos pedidos de concessão. Numa interpelação escrita, Chan Meng Kam mostra-se sobretudo preocupado com o caso da Wynn Macau, por entender que a provável concessão está a gerar “polémica” na sociedade. Apelando à transparência de processos, o deputado pretende ainda que seja divulgada a taxa da conclusão dos planos de investimentos das operadoras de jogo no COTAI, por forma a entender melhor o desenvolvimento daquela zona.

in Jornal Tribuna de Macau

A senior legislator worried with the news Macau to public about Wynn Macau on COTAI.

[Skyrobot]

I've yet to visit Macau since Sands build their casino. After reading this thread, its time to pay a visit, maybe...

[NuncaPior]

Everybody waiting...

Market eyes Cotai news from Wynn


Investors are expecting strong results from Wynn Macau, as well as news from its Cotai project, with the gaming operator set to release its third-quarter earnings early today (Macau time).
The Hong Kong-listed company could report a 48 percent increase in operating profit – earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortisation (EBITDA) – to USD 293.5 million (MOP 2.35 billion), J.P. Morgan analyst Joseph Greff wrote in a note to clients earlier this week.
He also claimed Wynn Macau has an advantage over its rivals in attracting VIP gamblers and high-end retail customers.
“Record Macau results early in the quarter may have offset low hold in September,” Barclays analyst Felicia Hendrix wrote.
Analysts also expect the operator’s chief executive officer, Steve Wynn, to release more information on its plans for a casino resort in Cotai during the earnings conference call.
A month ago Wynn Macau announced it had agreed to pay a MOP 1.55 billion government premium for a 51-acre block of land located next to City of Dreams resort.
But on the very same day local authorities said they were “yet to make a final decision” about the company’s request for a land concession.

Analysts polled by FactSet expect Wynn Macau’s parent company, US-based Wynn Resorts, to post earnings of USD 1.18 per share – three times as much as in the period a year ago. Revenue is slated to reach USD 1.29 billion (MOP 10.3 billion), up by 27.7 percent from the third quarter of 2010.

in Macau Daily Times

[hkskyline]

Xi Jinping warns of over-reliance on gaming
09/03/2012 10:53:00
Macau Daily Times

Chinese Vice President Xi Jinping yesterday was quoted as saying that Macau’s facing challenges of an over-reliance on the gaming industry. The Chief Executive agreed that Macau needed to diversify its economy.

According to TDM, Ho Iat Seng, one of the 12 Macau deputies to the National People’s Congress, who met Xi in Beijing yesterday said he expected Macau to face challenges in the future, one of them is the over reliance on gaming industry that squeezed the development space for other industries. The opinion is repeatedly expressed by different political and economic leaders but Xi is among the few top national leaders to personally address the problem. Ho described Xi as “thoroughly knowing the situation in Macau”. Xi is in charge of Hong Kong and Macau affairs in the central government.

After returning to Macau last night, CE Chui Sai On responded to Xi’s concern, saying that the city would strive to diversify its economy through extending cooperation with Guangdong and Hong Kong.He stressed that Macau would continue to improve its tertiary education and vocational training system to coach more talents for the all-rounded development of the city. He added that Macau would enhance cooperation with mainland institutions, including Qinghua University on the educational front.

Chui also said that in the face of the local and international challenges, the MSAR government wants to be prudent in the administration of public affairs. The newly set up budget reserve system shows that the authority is positively preparing for untoward situations in the current favourable conditions.

Xi expressed “three hopes” during his meeting with Macau deputies, saying that Macau should clearly understand local and international situations in order to be better prepared for all kinds of scenarios. He also hoped Macau would build up an awareness for accepting different challenges, and hoped the Macau deputies support the Macau government in implementing the political reform. Before leaving Beijing, Chui visited the Foreign Ministry and met Foreign Minster Yang Jiechi. Chui expressed gratitude for the ministry’s support for Macau’s international efforts.

[everywhere]

Macao 's forex reserves reach 16.84 bln USD in June
(Shanghai Daily, July 17)

MACAO, July 17 (Xinhua) -- The preliminary estimate of the Macao SAR's foreign exchange reserves amounted to 134.5 billion patacas (16.84 billion U.S. dollars) at the end of June 2012, according to the figures released on Tuesday by the Monetary Authority of Macao.

The reserves for June rose by 2.5 percent from the revised value of 131.2 patacas (16.41 billion U.S. dollars) for the previous month, the figures indicated.

more: http://www.shanghaidaily.org/article...a.asp?id=83514



Macao's Tourist Price Index up 6.57 pct in Q2 of 2012
(Shanghai Daily, July 12)

MACAO, July 17 (Xinhua) -- Macao's Tourist Price Index (TPI) for the second quarter of 2012 rose 6.57 percent over the same period of last year, according to the figures released Tuesday by the city's Statistics and Census Service (DSEC).

The DSEC figures indicated that the price indices of Restaurant services, Entertainment and cultural activities and clothing and footwear increased notably in the period by 18.02 percent, 11.91 percent and 11.39 percent year-on-year respectively.

The notable increase was pushed by higher charges for restaurant services and dearer prices of women's clothing, the DSEC said.

more: http://www.shanghaidaily.org/article...a.asp?id=83523