Inside Gaming: Parisian Macao Hotel Opens Amid Uncertain Future in Macau

This week’s installment of Inside Gaming focuses on Macau where another huge hotel-casino opened this week while a junket operator is pulling its VIP rooms, earning some animosity from at least one Macau casino operator.

LV Sands’ Parisian Opens in Macau

Amid questions over whether or not Macau’s more than two-year slide in gaming revenue might finally be coming to an end — and continued governmental pressure to find other non-gaming avenues for growth — another casino has opened in the Special Administrative Region.

On Tuesday the Parisian Macao Hotel opened its doors to the public, a sprawling, 3,000-room resort adorned with a half-scale Eiffel Tower located on the Cotai Strip. It marks the fifth Macau property for the Las Vegas Sands Corp. and Chairman and CEO Sheldon Adelson, who appeared to field questions from hundreds of reporters prior to the evening’s opening ceremonies.

After 26 consecutive months of declining gaming revenue — with decreases in the 30-40 percent range (and higher) many of those months — Macau’s Gaming Inspection and Coordination Bureau finally reported a positive month in August as casinos collectively showed a 1.1 percent increase in gaming revenue. Many analysts nonetheless remain skeptical over whether a turnaround is near, with some expressing doubts regarding the opening of new casinos and whether there remains enough demand to support them.

When asked about the future of gambling growth in Macau, Adelson opined “I think we have essentially hit the bottom,” reports Reuters. He added that a return to growth “will be gradual,” adding he believes “Macau still has very good days to come.”

“I can’t predict what the percentage of growth will be, but I am optimistic about the future,” said Adelson.

Adelson and the Las Vegas Sands were the first to build on the Cotai Strip with the world’s largest casino, the massive Venetian Macao that opened in 2007.

With an approximate cost of $3 billion, the Parisian Macao opens less than a month after the opening of the $4.2 billion Wynn Palace Cotai in late August, a 1,700-room hotel with 1,145 slot machines and 100 gaming tables to begin thanks to governmental restrictions. The Parisian reportedly has 1,600 slots and just over 400 gaming tables in operation, having been permitted to move some of its tables from other properties.

“Even if Macau never again reaches the stellar …

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