Lawrence Ho Yau Lung, chairman and chief executive of international casino operator Melco Resorts & Entertainment Ltd, says the company continues to study the feasibility of investing in Thailand, which he described as a “generational opportunity”.
While there is no timetable yet for casino resorts to open in Thailand, the prospect of enabling legislation being gazetted later this year has focused interest from casino groups and investors.
Thailand’s cabinet approved, in principle, the Entertainment Complex Bill for casino liberalisation on January 13. The draft legislation is expected to be sent to the lower house of the National Assembly in early March for discussion and approval, according to media reports.
“We’ve done a lot of studies, we’ve made a lot of trips, we’ve opened an office, we’ve done a whole bunch of stuff there [in Thailand],” said Mr Ho (pictured in a file photo). His comments were made on Thursday on a conference call with investment analysts following Melco Resorts’ announcement of its fourth-quarter 2024 results.
“I think Thailand is a generational opportunity, probably happens once every century,” stated the CEO.
The executive however said it was “still early days” regarding Thailand’s casino legalisation effort.
“I think we’re in the very early innings in Thailand right now. So, we will keep a very close eye to it,” he added.
The group runs casinos in Macau, Cyprus, one in the Philippines and soon one in Sri Lanka.
In January, Melco Resorts opened a representative office in Thailand’s capital, Bangkok, to explore new opportunities in the country.
At the time, Mr Ho was cited as saying that Melco Resorts was awaiting clarity on investment regulations from the Thai government in terms of entertainment complexes with casinos, better to determine the size and budget for any potential investment in the country.
In his Thursday remarks, Mr Ho said any investment in Thailand would in likelihood be an “exception” to the group’s recently announced “asset-light strategy”.
The Melco Resorts boss had mentioned on the conference call that the company was adopting a new strategy, namely “to be asset light where we can, capitalise on our investments, and reallocate our resources”.
The shift in strategy was one of the reasons for the group to announce that it was “exploring potential strategic alternatives” regarding its involvement in the operations of the City of Dreams Manila casino resort, in the Philippine capital.
Mr Ho stated: We’re always very open-minded with structures and partners. For these exceptional growth opportunities [such as Thailand], we might make exceptions [to the new asset-light strategy].”
In a memo in late January, Seaport Research Partners observed that while Melco Resorts had announced interest in a Thailand project, the casino firm had “limited capital availability, compared to other better funded competitors”.
“But its advantage may lie in its ability” to form a “lower capital investment deal with local partners (i.e., Sri Lanka), potentially in a secondary market in Thailand,” wrote analyst Vitaly Umansky.
Other operators have flagged interest in investing in Thailand, if the country legalises casino gaming.
On Thursday, Francis Lui Yiu Tung, chairman of Macau market rival Galaxy Entertainment Group Ltd, said the company was sending a team to Thailand to study the potential of that market as a casino jurisdiction.
Seaport’s Mr Umansky said in a Thursday report that Galaxy Entertainment had “ample resources to pursue its Macau investments and increase dividends, along with any opportunity in Thailand that my materialise”.
In its 2024 annual results, Galaxy Entertainment said that as of December 31, it had a net position of HKD27.1 billion (US$3.48 billion).
