Galaxy Entertainment Group (GEG) revealed on Thursday that it is investing an extra HK$1.5 billion on upgrades to its two leading Macau IRs, Galaxy Macau and StarWorld.
The news formed part of the company’s 2018 Full Year and Q4 earnings release, which saw group-wide revenue grow 14% year-on-year to HK$55.2 billion and adjusted EBITDA by 19% to HK$16.9 billion.
The investment includes significant enhancements to some of Galaxy Macau and StarWorld’s older product offerings, namely renovations to VIP rooms, with GEG stating that works had already begun.
It added that the program “not only enhances our attractiveness, but also includes preparation work for the effective future integration and connectivity of Phases 3 and 4” which will include another 4,500 hotel rooms, 400,000 square feet of MICE space, a 500,000-square feet 16,000-seat multi-purpose arena, F&B, retail and new gaming space.
GEG said it expects to open Phase 3 in stages starting from the second half of 2020.
No new details were provided about GEG’s planned development in Hengqin, however any short-term progress looks unlikely with Vice Chairman Francis Lui telling Inside Asian Gaming, “Right now, the immigration policy is that our customers, when they go from Macau to Hengqin, they do not have the visa to come back.
“This is a national policy that needs to be in place before Hengqin can become much more integrated with Macau.
“We continue working on the plan to make sure what we’re going to build in Hengqin is going to complement what we have in Macau. Meanwhile we wait for the policy to be introduced.”
