By Yvonne Lee
HONG KONG--Macau casino operator SJM Holdings Ltd. (0880.HK)
said late Friday that it received the Macau government's approval
for the development of a casino resort in Cotai, Macau.
Chief Executive Ambrose So said the casino resort will enable
the company--Macau's largest casino operator by revenue--to expand
its operations from the Macau peninsula to Macau's Cotai area,
where rivals are investing billions to build casino resorts.
SJM said the company has accepted a land concession contract
from the Macau government and intends to develop a casino with 700
gaming tables and 1,000 slot machines as well as a five-star hotel
with 2,000 hotel rooms.
SJM paid the government about 2.1 billion Hong Kong dollars
(US$268 million) for the land concession and expects construction
to begin after the publication of the land concession contract in
the Official Gazette of Macau, a process that could take up to 36
months.
On Thursday, smaller rival gaming company MGM China Holdings
Ltd. (2282.HK) said it had received approval to build its US$2.5
billion casino project in Macau.
Macau is the only place where gambling is legal in China. Cotai
has become the new center of growth in booming Macau and home to
Las Vegas Sands Corp.'s (LVS) Venetian Macao casino-resort. But
after an initial burst of excitement, the government had stopped
approving new projects, making would-be builders including SJM, MGM
China and Wynn Resorts Ltd. (WYNN) wait years for approval.
Write to Yvonne Lee at yvonne.lee@wsj.com
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