Retendering21-22

out24 The new-to-Macau baccarat side bets commonly referred to as  ‘Lucky 7’ and its variation ‘Super Lucky 7’  have the potential to mirror the success of a Singapore-market variant known as ‘Dragon Tiger’ baccarat, offered at the Marina Bay Sands casino resort there. That is according to a number of industry experts canvassed by GGRAsia. GGRAsia first observed the ’7s’ bets in the Macau gaming market  during the October Golden Week  holidays, that ran on the Chinese mainland this year from October 1 to 7 inclusive. As of our site visit on October 3, the ’7s’ bets could already be found in most of the casino properties in the city, except for the mass and high-limit areas inside the Cotai casinos of Venetian Macao and its sister property across the road, the Londoner Macao, two properties run by Sands China Ltd. These new-to-market side bets were later seen available at the Londoner Casino and Londoner Grand Casino within Sands China’s British-themed property. That ...

 ju24 Some mainland China players may have put off visiting Macau in June amid publicity about a  crackdown by the Chinese authorities  on unlicensed cross-border money exchange, says a Monday note from Seaport Global Securities LLC. “We believe this crackdown round is having some negative impact on money flows into Macau and certain individuals have postponed their visits to Macau,” stated analyst Vitaly Umansky. The authorities’ activity “will likely continue to be somewhat of a headwind to GGR [gross gaming revenue] over the next month or two,” he wrote. But Mr Umansky added: “We expect the crackdown to soften and liquidity in Macau to be not significantly impacted in the medium term.” June GGR might also have been negatively affected by the Euro 2024 international soccer tournament in Germany running from June 14 to July 14. Macau in June typically had modest play volumes anyway, said Mr Umansky. https://www.ggrasia.com/some-players-avoiding-macau-amid-cash-crackdown-...

 jun24 One of the Hong Kong government’s top tourism advisers – the leisure and entertainment mogul Allan Zeman – says the city is lagging behind Macao when it comes to attractions.  His comments will come as a stark warning to a Hong Kong tourism industry struggling to find its post-pandemic direction, with long-haul markets remaining sluggish and the domestic market shifting from affluent mainland Chinese travellers to penny-pinching day-trippers. In remarks  published  by the  South China Morning Post  over the weekend, Zeman said Macao has things “we don’t have” and praised the Macao government’s efforts to diversify away from gambling as a tourist draw. “Macao is becoming an exciting city. Every week there’s new names coming, putting on shows, and it’s competition for us,” he said. Zeman added: “The casinos earn a lot of money, so they can keep bringing out new things and reinventing themselves … Macao has suddenly become a very fun place to go to.” He...

jan25 Macau’s Judiciary Police (PJ) has revealed another case of fake casino chips after three mainland men were arrested on suspicion of using such chips to defraud a casino and 11 other people of HK$600,000 (US$75,000). The incident took place on the evening of 1 January, when the PJ was informed by a casino in Cotai that a dealer had found an unusual chip with a face value of HK$10,000 while at work, which was tested and found to be fake. Casino staff subsequently found the same kind of chips on a number of gamblers. After investigation, the PJ and casino staff intercepted the three mainland men but they refused to cooperate. The investigation revealed that the men had been exchanging fake chips with gamblers and “money exchange gangs” inside and outside the casino since 8:30pm. One of the suspects also mixed fake chips with real chips and exchanged them for cash in the casino’s cage. After arresting the three men, police seized 77 fake chips with a face value of HK$10,000 (US$1,250...

out24 A series of rejuvenation projects underway at MGM Macau are aimed at ensuring that MGM China’s original Macau resort dominates the peninsula gaming market, according to President and Executive Director Kenneth Feng. Speaking during parent company MGM Resorts’ 3Q24 earnings call on Thursday, Feng outlined what he described as some “very meaningful projects” MGM China had started on during the September quarter, including a refreshment of the property’s gaming floor, a revamped events center and some new F&B outlets. “The goal of these developments is really to make sure the products reflect the trend of the customers,” he said. “All of these projects we expect to be done by the middle of next year and once done we will continue to lead the peninsula Macau market.” Also in the works is a “suite conversion project” at MGM Cotai through which the company is converting 160 standard rooms into 60 suites, increasing the property’s suite offering by around 25%. According to Feng, “MG...