The government has announced that it has green-lighted gaming concessionaire SJM’s application to convert Le Royal Arc Casino into a “directly-operated” casino from 2 a.m. tomorrow.
The Gaming Inspection and Coordination Bureau (DICJ) made the announcement in a statement on Friday.
Correspondingly, according to the statement, the casino, located in L’Arc Hotel in Nape, will cease operating as a “satellite casino” after 1:59 a.m. tomorrow.
As Le Royal Arc Casino will become a casino directly operated by SJM, Landmark Casino, located in New Orient Landmark Hotel on Avenida da Amizade in Zape, is now the city’s last remaining third-party-operated satellite casino set to close down permanently.
Landmark Casino will close for good after 11:59 p.m. tomorrow, i.e., just 24 hours before the expiration of the statutory three-year transition period after which all satellite casinos in Macau must close.
The government announced in June that in compliance with the three-year transition period stipulated by the new legislation amending the gaming law, all of the city’s then 11 satellite casinos decided to close for good by December 31 this year. Grandview Casino in Taipa, which closed in late July, was the first of them to cease operations.
After Grand Dragon Casino, also in Taipa, closed in September, two satellite casinos in the peninsula, namely Emperor Palace Casino in Nam Van district and Waldo Casino in Zape, ceased operations in late October.
Afterwards, three other satellite casinos closed down permanently at different times last month, namely Legend Palace Casino located in the Macau Fisherman’s Wharf entertainment complex in Nape, Casa Real Casino in Zape, and Ponte 16 Casino located in the Ponte 16 hotel resort in the Inner Harbour district.
Kam Pek Paradise Casino in Zape and its adjacent Fortuna Casino ceased operations at different times early this month.
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.
After the three-year transition period, which is scheduled to end on December 31 this year, all satellite casinos must close, unless the respective gaming concessionaire chooses to hire a “management company” to operate the casino. However, such a management company is only allowed to receive a management fee from the respective gaming concessionaire, no longer being permitted to share in the casino’s revenues.
The three respective gaming concessionaires, SJM, Galaxy, and Melco, decided in June to terminate the operations of all 11 satellite casinos before the expiration of the transition period, meaning that none of the three gaming concessionaires decided to continue operating these casinos through the hiring of management companies after December 31 this year.
Among the 11 satellite casinos, Waldo Casino was formally owned by Galaxy, while Grand Dragon Casino was owned by Melco, with the other nine by SJM.
Unlike its other satellite casinos, SJM signed an agreement last month to acquire the ownership of L’Arc Hotel in order to convert Le Royal Arc Casino into a “directly-operated” casino after its scheduled closure as a satellite casino.
After midnight tomorrow, when Landmark Casino is scheduled to close, Macau’s number of casinos will drop to 20, comprising five owned by SJM, five by Sands, three by Galaxy, three by Melco, two by Wynn, and two by MGM.
In 2021, Macau’s number of casinos peaked at 42, according to the Gaming Inspection and Coordination Bureau (DICJ).
Vehicles travel past L’Arc Hotel in Nape on Saturday where Le Royal Arc Casino is housed on some of its podium floors. – Photo: Tony Wong
