Macau gov't grants 15 new tables to Legend Palace

The official added that SJM Holdings Ltd., the holder of the gaming licence that property owner Macau Legend Development Ltd. uses for its gaming business, will transfer 55 other mass and VIP gaming tables from its other properties to the new hotel.

The Secretary said SJM has not requested new gaming tables for Jai Alai, which is expected to run the business based upon its previous model after re-opening.

The scheme for the city’s Fisherman’s Wharf waterside entertainments complex recently completed all construction and fitting out duties and will offer gambling under a master license held by giant compatriot SJM Holdings Limited.

“SJM [Holdings Limited] has made this [table] request to the government for the Legend Palace Hotel,” Lionel Leong Vai Tac, Economy And Finance Secretary for Macau, told GGRAsia on Wednesday. “We just completed the related procedure [of approving tables] today.”

“From what I understand, [Macau Legend Development Limited] will move about 55 gaming tables consisting of both mass and VIP from other SJM [Holdings Limited] casinos to its Legend Palace Hotel,” said Leong. “As in the past, we are still strictly abiding to the rule of [a maximum] annual 3% growth for gaming tables [market-wide] for the span of ten years and you can also see that we have earmarked the newly-granted tables for mass play only. Mass play has an important role for our gaming revenues and it has also brought new client sources for our small and medium-sized enterprises so we will continue to stick by this principle.”

Leong additionally reportedly declared that the decision to grant 15 new gaming tables to Legend Palace Hotel had been taken following a “comprehensive consideration” of ways to help the former Portuguese enclave “develop as a world center of tourism and leisure”.