Macau has a new casino – or perhaps we should call it an old one – after SJM re-opened its Casino Taipa in the Regency Art Hotel last week for the first time in eight years.
Located across the road from Altira Macau, Casino Taipa is about as small as a Macau casino gets with just five gaming tables and 112 electronic gaming seats comprising a mixture of slots and ETGs.
Originally opened in 1987 before closing in 2008, it is believed that SJM has simply re-activated a dormant casino license, rather than applying for a new license.
“We believe there is a framework for a gaming license to sit dormant for some period of time,” explained Union Gaming analyst Grant Govertsen. “For example, SJM’s 3rd-party promoted Greek Mythology casino also seems to be in a similar state today with the potential to reopen in the future.
“Per SJM’s license contract as published on the official Macau Gazette, we believe there are two other SJM self-promoted casinos, Casino Marina (located nearby Galaxy’s Broadway in Cotai) and Casino Macao Palace (the old floating casino that historically was nearby the ferry terminal on the peninsula), which also appear to have dormant licenses.”
Casino Taipa’s re-opening is expected to have little impact on SJM’s bottom line with the tables representing just 0.3 percent of its Macau total and electronic games just four percent,
