Macau: no new casino permits until 2025

Tam said that once the last new Cotai casino opens in 2017, “there will be a seven- to eight-year period without new casino properties.” That would mean operators would have to wait at least until 2025 before applications for new casino permits would be considered.

If the mass market hordes continue to grow at their current pace thanks to improved infrastructure channels on the mainland, the new Cotai establishments might prove unable to cope with the demand.

But there’s a bigger factor limiting Macau’s future development: the city is rapidly running out of physical space on which new casinos might be built. Then again, Cotai was an unusable swamp until Sheldon Adelson viewed it otherwise, so where there’s a will, there’s a dredger.

Casino operator Melco Crown Entertainment has boosted the budget to complete its new Studio City property on Macau’s Cotai Strip by US$ 300 million.

MCE made the announcement in a filing with the US Securities and Exchange Commission on Tuesday. The increase amounts to 15% of Studio City’s planned budget, bringing its total development cost to around US$ 2.3 billion. No reason for the increase was provided, although MCE’s rivals have faced similar budget overruns on their own Cotai projects as construction costs soar in Macau.