The Galaxy Macau casino resort in the city’s Cotai district has a sign marked “Noble International Club” and “international guests are welcome”, pointing to an upstairs area near the property’s Diamond Lobby, GGRAsia has confirmed following on-site checks.
A staff member affirmed the indicated zone was a gaming area for those holding a foreign passport, with a valid Macau-entry endorsement issued by the immigration authorities.
GGRAsia understands from people with knowledge of the matter, that the zone at Galaxy Macau – the flagship casino resort of Galaxy Entertainment Group Ltd – has been operational since Thursday.
GGRAsia has approached Galaxy Entertainment seeking comment regarding the foreigner-only gambling zone.
At least three other Macau casino operators have launched foreigner-only gambling zones within company properties, with the first starting in February, according to GGRAsia’s checks.
In all cases, GGRAsia has sought comment from the city’s casino regulator, the Gaming Inspection and Coordination Bureau, regarding specifics on international-player zone starting dates and terms and conditions applicable for such zones. No comment has been available so far.
The Venetian Macao casino resort, run by Sands China Ltd, is understood to have been the first mover.
Within the same month, at least two gambling zones for foreigners were also in operation respectively at the MGM Macau casino hotel and the MGM Cotai casino resort, both properties run by MGM China Holdings Ltd.
The Studio City casino resort in Macau’s Cotai district, majority owned by Melco Resorts & Entertainment Ltd, has a foreigner-only gaming zone on the second floor of its Star Tower, GGRAsia confirmed following a recent on-site check at that property. GGRAsia understands from sources that Melco Resorts also has foreigner-only gambling space at its wholly-owned Macau flagship City of Dreams, also on Cotai.
According to Macau government data, the city had 1.59-million visitor arrivals in February, a major year-on-year improvement coinciding with the lifting in early January of most Covid-19 countermeasures in mainland China, Macau and Hong Kong. In February, visitors to Macau from overseas accounted for 2.8 percent of the total, or about 44,500 arrivals.
A senior gaming and hospitality executive told GGRAsia regarding current market conditions: “Gaming is recovering well, but it could be better. There are constraints – transportation for the premium players from Hong Kong – and visas, as well as available gaming wallets, for the gamers from China. As to foreign visitors and players, air connection is still the bottleneck.”
Under the updated regulatory framework for Macau gaming, linked to the new 10-year concessions that started on January 1, the city’s chief executive has the authority to reduce by up to 5 percentage points casino operators’ tax burden on casino gross gaming revenue (GGR) generated by players from “foreign countries,” as a matter of “public interest”. The city wants to wean the industry away from dependence on high-stakes gambling by players from the Chinese mainland.
Macau’s casino GGR was up 246.9 percent year-on-year in March, to just under MOP12.74 billion (US$1.58 billion). The result was the best monthly performance since January 2020 – prior to the onset of the pandemic alert, according to official data.
