SJM satellites Ponte 16, Kam Pek to continue ops to Dec
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Success Universe Group Ltd, an investor and promoter in Macau casino hotel Ponte 16, has agreed with casino operator SJM Holdings Ltd to extend the provision of gaming services at the property until the end of this year. The information was confirmed to GGRAsia by Success Universe’s deputy chairman and executive director, Hoffman Ma Ho Man.
Casino games maker and casino management firm Paradise Entertainment Ltd also confirmed to GGRAsia on Monday that it had agreed with SJM Holdings to extend the provisioning of gaming services at Casino Kam Pek until the end of this year.
The two casinos are known as “satellite” gaming venues, run under a service agreement with SJM Holdings. Macau satellite casinos are venues controlled by independent investors, but must piggyback on the gaming licence of an existing casino concessionaire.
The city’s six casino operators had already applied to the Macau government for an extension until December 31 of their existing rights, as made feasible by the local authorities. The current licences are due to expire on June 26. The extension gives time for the Macau government to prepare a new public tender for Macau gaming permits.
Adriano Marques Ho, director of the local casino regulator, the Gaming Inspection and Coordination Bureau, told reporters last week that the government had already received the applications from the six concessionaires, and was analysing their requests.
Currently, there are 18 operating satellite casinos in the city: 14 of them are using of SJM Holdings’ gaming licence; three using Galaxy Entertainment Group Ltd’s gaming licence, and the remaining one using Melco Resorts and Entertainment Ltd’s.
The promoter of Grand Emperor Hotel, also a satellite casino hotel that piggybacks on the gaming licence of SJM Holdings, announced on Friday that it was to cease gaming operations on June 26, citing causes including the “gloomy outlook of the high-end gaming segment” and “tough business operating environment arising from the Covid-19 pandemic”.
Late last month, Chinese-language media outlet Macao Daily News reported, citing sources it did not identify, that at least seven Macau satellite casinos – nearly 40 percent of such properties currently active in the local market – might withdraw from the sector by mid-year.
