No junkets at Morpheus confirms Lawrence Ho

May 07, 2018 Newsdesk Latest News, Macau, Top of the deck  

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Morpheus (pictured), the fifth hotel tower at casino resort City of Dreams Macau, will not have VIP junket areas, according to comments by Lawrence Ho Yau Lung, the chairman of the venue’s promoter Melco Resorts and Entertainment Ltd, as quoted by Reuters.

“Eventually it’s much better to develop your own database than rely on junkets,” Mr Ho was quoted as saying in the report.

Mr Ho had previously stated that the additional gaming space in Morpheus would be for premium mass gambling customers: people betting in high multiples but using cash, rather than the credit extended under the rolling chip programmes offered to traditional VIP customers.

A media preview of the US$1-billion Morpheus is due to take place on May 15, the opening day of Global Gaming Expo (G2E) Asia 2018, a casino industry trade show and conference to be held in Macau. The new hotel will feature approximately 780 hotel rooms, suites and villas, and is due to open in the first half of 2018, according to commentary from the company. Mr Ho mentioned last year that the new hotel tower would have space to accommodate up to 50 gaming tables.

A Friday note from Japanese brokerage Nomura mentioned the likelihood of a “late” second-quarter launch for Morpheus.

A recent note from brokerage Sanford C. Bernstein Ltd said Morpheus would expand City of Dreams Macau’s room base by approximately 50 percent, leading to “improvement in the volume of gambling by premium mass players”.

Melco Resorts announced on Thursday first-quarter earnings results that beat market consensus, driven by an improvement in the Macau mass-market segment and a reduction in management bonuses. The firm also announced a US$100 million investment on redevelopment work at City of Dreams Macau and the group’s 60-percent-owned Cotai casino resort Studio City.

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