Melco’s Lawrence Ho is confident his company will be granted more new-to-market gaming tables next year, TDM News reports.
The company’s newest hotel tower, Morpheus, officially opened its doors on Friday after receiving its hotel and gaming license on Thursday.
The 770-room hotel opened with 40 gaming tables transferred from other Melco properties, however, Ho said he was confident the government would grant them a fresh allocation of gaming tables in 2019.
"I think the government is looking at next year's quota for us. I think in the meantime, we are ok with moving tables and re-allocating them. But again, I am super confident that the Macau government has never failed us before and has rewarded us appropriately for our contribution and I think it's not just contribution in the last couple of years," said Ho.
Regarding hotel rooms, Ho said that Morpheus will launch its hotel rooms gradually in phases, with the first phase to introduce 200 to 300 rooms.
“After [we] complete all [the] troubleshooting, we will gradually introduce 100 rooms per two weeks,” said Ho during a press conference on Friday. “By the time in July, we will have all rooms put into operation
According to local media, Ho further revealed that the construction of Studio City Phase 2 is set to commence in the third quarter of this year.
He said the expansion will focus on non-gaming elements.
"We're still negotiating. Hopefully, in the second half, we will commence work because by July 2021 we need to complete everything. The planning for Phase 2 of Studio City is all non-gaming. Because in Phase 1 we already provided enough gaming space so there won't be a separate casino. Again we are still negotiating with our minority shareholders so I can't share too much information yet," he said.
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