Melco Resorts has expanded its Macau properties with three new gaming areas for foreign players. The news comes amid the strong recovery of the gambling industry in the special administrative region.
The company chairman and chief executive officer, Lawrence Ho, spoke about the new areas during the recent opening of an indoor water park at Studio City. In an interview with Inside Asian Gaming, Ho addressed the new areas, saying that they are Melco’s way to keep up with the increasing number of foreign tourists.
The CEO said that now both City of Dreams and Studio City have gaming areas for foreigners. He noted that two of them are in the former property, and another one in the latter, providing extra gaming tables for visitors.
Ho noted that the crowds coming to Macau have been increasing following the lifting of the visitation restrictions. He believes that the region will attract even more visitors in May.
The COVID Woes Affected Melco’s Business
The COVID-19 pandemic and China’s zero-COVID policy devastated Macau for a time. The local gaming and entertainment industry was struggling to cope with the travel restrictions and the sudden lack of visitors.
Amid all this trouble, many of the local operators reported subpar results. Melco, for example, announce a net loss of a whopping $931 million USD in 2022. This was the second devastating year in a row for the company, which lost another $810 million in 2021.
Luckily, Ho believes that Melco’s results will be better this year. While he lamented losing so much money in the past three years, he said that Melco is not expected to lose money in 2023. However, its bank debt has increased substantially, meaning that the company will have to work extra hard to pay its debts.
Ho counts on Melco’s signature facilities and entertainment offering to attract more visitors to Macau. Now that border tourism has been restored, his team hopes that many foreign tourists will come to the special administrative region.
A week ago, Macau reported that its gambling industry continued to rebound in March. The total gross gaming revenue recorded in the region sat at $1.58 billion, representing a substantial year-on-year increase.
Credit Suisse ex attributed the favorable results to the resumed package tours, which continue to bring more and more people to Macau. This extra visitation translated into a daily GGR boost of around $41-46 million in mid-March and $59-62 million in late March.
However, more needs to be done if Macau is to return to its pre-pandemic results.