First of 11 ‘satellite casinos’ to close
The Gaming Inspection and Coordination Bureau (DICJ) announced yesterday that Grandview Casino in Taipa, one of the city’s current 11 “satellite casinos”, will close for good after tomorrow night.
Yesterday’s DICJ announcement came after the government announced early last month that all of the city’s current 11 satellite casinos will close for good by December 31 this year. Grandview Casino will be the first of the 11 satellite casinos to cease operations.
The 11 satellite casinos comprise nine owned by SJM, one owned by Galaxy, and one owned by Melco, three of the city’s current six gaming concessionaires.
SJM, the respective gaming concessionaire that formally owns Grandview Casino, also announced its decision to terminate the operations of the casino in a statement yesterday.
A DICJ statement yesterday underlined that SJM will be required to continue hiring all its employees working at Grandview Casino and to provide those employed by the satellite casino’s third-party operator with opportunities to “transfer” to jobs available at its other gaming businesses.
The so-called satellite casinos in Macau are formally owned by gaming concessionaires but are actually run and managed by third parties as they are housed on premises that are not owned by the respective gaming concessionaires.
The satellite casinos are currently operated under partnership models where the respective gaming concessionaires and third parties share the revenues.
According to the gaming law’s newly amended version, all casinos must be housed in premises that are owned by their respective gaming concessionaires.
The new legislation amending the gaming law stipulates a three-year transition period, which started on January 1, 2023, during which existing satellite casinos can continue operating under their current partnership models.
After the three-year transition period, which is scheduled to end on December 31 this year, a satellite casino, which is housed on premises not owned by the respective gaming concessionaire, will have to be run by a “management company” to be hired by the gaming concessionaire. The management company will no longer be allowed to share the casino’s revenues with the respective gaming concessionaire, which, instead, can only pay the former a management fee.
According to last month’s government announcements, the three respective gaming concessionaires, SJM, Galaxy, and Melco, decided to terminate the operations of all 11 satellite casinos before the expiration of the transition period based on their respective commercial decisions, comprising Grandview, Legend Palace, Fortuna, Landmark, Ponte 16, Le Royal Arc, Emperor Palace, Kam Pek Paradise, and Casa Real owned by SJM, Waldo owned by Galaxy, and Grand Dragon owned by Melco.
The 11 satellite casinos comprise five in Zape, namely Fortuna, Landmark, Kam Pek Paradise, Casa Real, and Waldo, two in Nape, namely Legend Palace and Le Royal Arc, two in Taipa, namely Grandview and Grand Dragon, as well as Emperor Palace in Nam Van district and Ponte 16 in the Inner Harbour district.
Yesterday’s DICJ statement said that after business negotiations, Grandview Casino’s third-party operator and SJM decided to terminate the operations of the casino after 11:59 p.m. tomorrow, i.e., no operations from Thursday.
The statement underlined that the Gaming Inspection and Coordination Bureau will strictly monitor Grandview Casino’s process to cease its operations with the aim of ensuring that it will be carried out in a stable and orderly manner and in full compliance with all official requirements.
The statement said that at the time of Grandview Casino’s closure, DICJ inspectors will conduct on-site oversight of the closure process, ensuring that SJM will terminate the operations of the casino in compliance with its plan submitted to the government. The statement said that DICJ inspectors will ensure that SJM will properly handle the cash and gaming chips stored in the casino cage, as well as the exchange of gaming chips and unredeemed cash vouchers.
According to last month’s government announcements, there were about 5,600 local employees working at the 11 satellite casinos at that time, of whom around 4,800 were directly employed by the respective gaming concessionaires, while around 800 were employed by the third-party operators.
Yesterday’s DICJ statement said that the Gaming Inspection and Coordination Bureau, in collaboration with the Labour Affairs Bureau, will ensure that SJM will fully fulfil its promise to continue employing all 159 employees working at Grandview Casino that it is directly employing, adding that SJM will be required to ensure that their current employment conditions such as salaries, benefits and other working conditions will be protected.
Moreover, the statement said, SJM will also be required to provide all seven workers employed by Grandview Casino’s third-party operator with opportunities to “transfer” to jobs available at its other gaming businesses.
SJM is planning to acquire the ownership of the hotels where two of its nine satellite casinos, Ponte 16 and Le Royal Arc, are located in order to convert them into “directly-operated” casinos after their respective closures as satellite casinos, i.e., the two casinos are slated to continue operating, but no longer as third-party managed businesses but as casinos directly operated by SJM.
Meanwhile, SJM said in its statement yesterday that all the current gaming tables in Grandview Casino, after its closure, will be relocated to several other SJM casinos.
The statement pledged that SJM will continue employing all its local employees working at Grandview Casino and arrange for them to work in gaming positions at other SJM casinos, while local employees working at Grandview Casino who are not employed by SJM “will be invited to apply for related vacancies” offered by SJM where they will be given employment priority.
A car drives past Grandview Hotel yesterday where Grandview Casino is located on its ground floor. – Photo: Tony Wong
