Union Gaming Research Macau released the following note on 24th September:
A top government official says table games will be allocated to Macau Studio City
Local media outlets, including the Macau Business Daily, are reporting that very positive government commentary was made over the weekend with respect to Melco Crown’s ability to offer casino gaming at its Macau Studio City (MSC) project. In a government statement on the market-wide table games cap post-2012, Francis Tam (Secretariat for Economy and Finance) noted that some of the new tables would be allocated to Macau Studio City. While there have been other recent public comments that suggested to us that there would, indeed, be a casino at Macau Studio City, this is the most direct acknowledgement we’ve seen to date. That being said, we wouldn’t be surprised if conflicting government commentary on MSC were to continue over the coming weeks and months even after this seemingly direct acknowledgement.
We think heavy construction is here – pieces of equipment +56% over the last two weeks
We believe the company is moving forward with the resumption of construction on MSC in a meaningful way. Over the past two weeks alone, we have counted a 56% increase in the amount of heavy equipment at the MSC site, which now includes 10 cranes and 4 pile drivers. Recall that most of the pilings have already been driven at MSC so there isn’t the same need for pile drivers at MSC relative to all of the other future Cotai developments. As the company recent noted, they have already received construction approval from the government to resume work on the pilings and foundation.
Given that construction is moving forward, and in the context of some clarity with respect to a casino at MSC, we believe that MSC will likely be the second of the next wave of six new Cotai casino-resorts to open, potentially by late 2015 (following the opening of Galaxy Macau Phase 2).
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