Studio City table allocation may surprise to the upside

Wednesday 7th of October 2015

Melco Crown Entertainment may get more tables than originally anticipated for its upcoming Studio City launch, Sterne Agee wrote in a note.

The market is currently anticipating an allocation of just 150, but they may get 200, with that number rising to 250 by year end, it said, citing unnamed sources.

The rumours also follow positive comments from the director of the Liaison Office between Macau and Mainland China Li Gang about potential measures to support the Macau economy.

“We believe, if checks are correct, a ~250 table allocation to MSC is a positive for all Macau names under coverage, most notably WYNN, scheduled to open its Wynn Palace property in late 1Q16, followed by MGM in mid-to-late CY16,” it said.

Studio City is scheduled to open on October 27th and will be the first of the new properties on Cotai to offer a broad variety of non-gaming options. Galaxy Entertainment’s Galaxy Phase II, which opened in May was seen of more an extension of an existing property and received an allocation of just 150 tables, far short of the number it had requested.

Sterne Agee said a higher number of tables for Studio City may reflect Melco’s commitment to non-gaming activities.

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