Macau’s Gaming Inspection and Coordination Bureau (DICJ) has not yet received any request for a new casino at the under-construction hotel known as ‘The 13’, the gaming regulator said in an email reply to GGRAsia.
The hotel (pictured in a rendering), on the Cotai-Coloane border, is scheduled to open in late summer. The property, owned by Hong Kong-listed Louis XIII Holdings Ltd, previously had the working title ‘Louis XIII’.
Asked about plans for a casino, Louis XIII Holdings told us that it currently has no information or updates it can provide.
Previous company information did mention plans for a casino at the property, but Louis XIII Holdings has made no mention in more recent releases of gaming facilities at the venue. Louis XIII Holdings would need to utilise the casino rights of one of Macau’s six gaming concession holders in order to operate a gambling venue at the property. Previous filings stated that the company expected to have a casino with a total of 66 gaming tables.
Macau’s Secretary for Economy and Finance, Lionel Leong Vai Tac, said in July at the Legislative Assembly that there were no restrictions in existing legislation that bar casinos from being built in Coloane, an area that is next door to Cotai. But he stressed that if a request to open a casino in Coloane was ever submitted to the government, public opinion would be taken into account before any decision was made.
The 13 aims to position itself in the ultra-luxury segment. In its latest release, the firm stated the average construction cost per room was more than US$7 million – or over a total US$1.4 billion. The all-villa hotel includes 200 units.
The ultra-luxury package of the hotel will include the first offshoot of French Michelin three-starred restaurant L’Ambroisie, and by-invitation-only ‘haute couture’ retail spot L’Atelier.
In September 2014, Louis XIII Holdings announced it had purchased the largest Rolls-Royce Phantom fleet in the world to serve its Macau hotel. The fleet of 30 extended-wheelbase Phantoms was bought for an aggregate consideration of US$20 million.
