SJM Holdings Launches Operation Of Grand Lisboa Palace
Macau and local casino operator SJM Holdings Limited have reportedly announced a "soft launch" of a new property at Grand Lisboa Palace following well over seven years of construction.
Kotai Streep Development began welcoming a limited number of guests this morning to enjoy 290,000 square feet of casinos with the best capacity to provide around 1,200 slots and up to 500 game tables. Sources detailed that the impressive property will now open further in stages, ultimately including Grand Lisboa Palace, Karl Lagerfeld, a three-person, five-star hotel with 1,892 rooms, and numerous shops and restaurants.
Twenty gambling-friendly venues, including the iconic casino Grand Lisboa, spread throughout Macau and began work on the Grand Lisboa Palace development in February 2014 to better compete with a number of nearby competitors, including Melco Resort and Entertainment Limited's $3.2 billion Studio City Macau venue. The new $5 billion property was originally scheduled to open late last year, but the schedule was reportedly postponed due to several tropical storms and the resulting coronavirus pandemic.
It said Wednesday that the company had previously been authorized to bring up to 150 new market game tables to casinos within Grand Lisboa Palace development, using official filings. However, the source explained that the company may finally decide to allocate some of these popular market units to other properties to make room for related VIP offerings.
In the same release declaring that her company's Grand Lisboa Palace company will be 'soft launching', it has declared that it will offer 300 hotel rooms and the rest will be 'starting service gradually based on actual demand'. However, GGRAcia reported that the full premiere could take time as Macau continues to see a drop in the number of visits as a direct result of the city's coronavirus-related travel restrictions.
Mainland China is the only territory with a travel bubble with little quarantine from Macau, and yet the former Portuguese enclave is reportedly set to enact new rules from tomorrow requiring such tourists to present a negative test for the coronavirus announced within the previous 48 hours. Adding to the difficulties, local officials said recently arrived holidaymakers have now been added to the list of places to complete a two-week quarantine.