Cotai casino resort Studio City (pictured) generated approximately US$6 million in gross gaming revenue (GGR) for the five days of October that it was operational, suggested a note on Wednesday from Deutsche Bank Securities Inc.
The institution added that – extrapolating the estimated figure into an approximately US$440-million daily run rate covering a period of 12 months – would mean Studio City, which launched on October 27, was adding approximately 1.6 percent to Macau’s annual revenue at the current market run rate pace. That, said the note from analysts Carlo Santarelli and Danny Valoy, would mean Studio City is underperforming relative to its gaming table allocation from the Macau government and its hotel capacity.
“To put this in perspective, we note that the 200-table allocation adds 3 percent to market table capacity and the 1,600 hotel rooms adds approximately 5 percent to hotel capacity,” said the Deutsche Bank team.
Studio City was given a new-to-market allocation of 200 tables at launch, with a further 50 available from January.
Analysts Jamie Soo and Adrian Chan of Daiwa Securities Group Inc said in a Wednesday note: “Based on the implied flat week-on-week ADR [average daily revenue in Macau] for the last week of October, the opening of Studio City did not appear to drive any material incremental demand, but it is perhaps too early to draw conclusions based on the five-day data set.”
Melco Crown Entertainment Ltd, a 60 percent owner of Studio City, is due to report its third quarter results on Thursday evening Macau time. Lawrence Ho Yau Lung, co-chairman and chief executive of the firm, has said it was a “business decision” not to offer VIP gambling at the resort at this stage.
Daiwa said in a note on October 27 that Studio City had a “planned VIP area… located on the second floor of the casino, though it will not be opened at this time”.
Christopher Jones and John DeCree, analysts at Union Gaming Research LLC, said in a Wednesday note regarding Studio City: “We expect investors will be focused on early signs of demand at the new property, however, it is likely still too early for any meaningful insights.”
