Dropping plans to absorb Macau satellite Casino Ponte 16 and saving only the former satellite Casino L’Arc Macau and its associated hotel, “suited better” SJM Holdings Ltd, the gaming licensee for the two sites.
So said SJM Holdings’ chairman Daisy Ho Chiu Fung, on the sidelines of a Tuesday ceremony to mark the formal takeover of the downtown L’Arc Hotel and its associated gaming operation. Ms Ho was speaking in response to a question from GGRAsia. She also mentioned the “potential” of the new core property.
Under the terms of the transaction, SJM Holdings will pay an aggregate of HKD1.75 billion (US$224.8 million) for the acquisition of L’Arc Hotel.
The complex became a company-managed venue with effect from 2am on Tuesday.
Ms Ho was asked by GGRAsia on Tuesday whether her group had been unable to agree a price with the third-party investors in Ponte 16, and if this had spoiled the chances of a takeover there. She stated: “There was not any singular condition that led us eventually not having chosen to acquire Ponte 16… For our overall planning, L’Arc suits us better.”
L’Arc Macau is linked to interests represented by Angela Leong On Kei, co-chairman and executive director of SJM Holdings. Ms Leong was also fourth consort of SJM Holdings’ founder Stanley Ho Hung Sun, and mother of his youngest children.
SJM Resorts’ position as a joint venture partner in resort complex Ponte 16, nonetheless, “continues”, Ms Ho noted.
She added in comments to the media, that L’Arc Hotel – close to the old Hotel Lisboa as well as to Grand Lisboa on Macau peninsula – is a “highly strategic” asset to the casino operator, due to its location and long-time “stable operation”.
Ms Ho also remarked: “Considering SJM Resorts’ own resources and the potential of L’Arc – simply put, the fact that we can increase instantly from the original 45 tables [at Casino L’Arc Macau] to over 100… helped us to become more competitive.”
The SJM group is able to take back ‘in-house’, a large number of gaming tables from former satellites of the group that have recently closed ahead Wednesday’s deadline for the end of the legacy satellite system.
The SJM executive noted that the over 400 gaming tables from shuttered satellite casinos that used to rely on its gaming rights would be gradually redeployed to the group’s gaming venues, namely at the Macau peninsula casino hotels Grand Lisboa, Hotel Lisboa, and Casino Oceanus, as well as Cotai’s Grand Lisboa Palace.
Ms Ho declined to remark on the operational cost to the group of absorbing former satellite gaming venue staff into its core workforce.
GGRAsia’s review of publicly-announced data concerning the rolling closure of eight satellites that used to rely on SJM’s gaming rights, indicates 4,149 employees must be absorbed back into the group’s core operations.
Ex-satellite clients ‘at ease’ in L’Arc
Ms Ho is also the managing director of SJM Resorts SA, the Macau gaming licence holding entity and a wholly owned subsidiary of the Hong Kong-listed entity.
Ms Ho mentioned to press that long-standing clients of Macau satellites would probably “feel at ease”, even in the SJM Holdings-managed Casino L’Arc Macau. She added that existing clients of the complex “did not spot any differences”.
She noted in her remarks to press: “As the surrounding satellite casinos have closed… their patrons would wish to find a place they feel at ease, and not that much different from what they have experienced before.
“This I believe L’Arc is able to do,” said Ms Ho.
When GGRAsia toured the site on Tuesday post-ceremony, there were two operating gaming floors, predominately featuring traditional – i.e, non-smart table – live-dealer baccarat play.
The minimum bets of the main floor on the ground level, ranged from HKD300 to HKD1,000. A high-limits baccarat room on the same level had two operating tables, each with minimum bets of HKD3,000.
Upstairs – known as Level 1 – the casino main floor mainly featured baccarat tables with minimum bets mostly at HKD200. A few higher-limit baccarat tables had minimums of up to HKD3,000.
Casino L’Arc Macau’s baccarat table setup features “Lucky 6”, “Small/Big 6”, “Lucky 7” and “Super Lucky 7” side bets. The gaming venue – busy with players by the time of GGRAsia’s Tuesday late afternoon visit – showed no sign of using ‘smart’ table.
