GGRAsia – No request for Macau’s Greek Mythology re-opening: DICJ

No request for Macau’s Greek Mythology re-opening: DICJ

Dec 08, 2016 Newsdesk Latest News, Macau, Top of the deck

Macau’s casino regulator, the Gaming Inspection and Coordination Bureau – also known by its Portuguese acronym DICJ – has not received any plan for the re-opening of Casino Greek Mythology, the body told GGRAsia.

Casino Greek Mythology, inside Taipa’s Beijing Imperial Palace Hotel, was shut down on December 31 last year by the gaming regulator – in a measure described at the time as a “temporary closure”. That was at the request of casino operator SJM Holdings Ltd, which provides the gaming licence for the casino.

Until it was shut down, Greek Mythology was a third-party managed casino, not directly overseen by SJM Holdings. Third-party managed casinos in Macau – also known as satellite casinos – have to piggyback on the licence of one of the city’s six official casino concessionaires.

Meanwhile, the Macao Government Tourism Office (MGTO) ordered in July a temporary closure of Beijing Imperial Palace Hotel for a period of six months. The sanction on the hotel – formerly known as New Century Hotel – was the result of “serious administrative irregularities” and “illegal reconstructions”, said at the time Maria Helena de Senna Fernandes, MGTO’s director.

“So far, the DICJ has not received any plan for re-opening of Casino Greek Mythology from the gaming concessionaire,” the gaming regulator stated in an emailed reply to GGRAsia on Wednesday.

Hong Kong-listed gaming services firm Amax International Holdings Ltd says it has a 24.8 percent stake in an entity called Greek Mythology (Macau) Entertainment Group Corp Ltd. The latter is described as the casino management services provider for Greek Mythology.

Despite being shut down for almost a year, Casino Greek Mythology does not risk losing its licence. “The current regulation has no specification on how long [a] casino can suspend operation,” stated DICJ in its reply to GGRAia.

Casino Taipa – another property under the gaming licence of SJM Holdings – reactivated its licence and restarted operations in November, after being closed since 2008.