SJM Holdings Limited, a Macau-based casino gaming company, hopes to reopen its renewed casino Jai Allai, located near Macau’s main ferry terminal, by mid-2016, according to a report published by GGRAsia based on a memo from analyst Sanford C. Bernstein Limited.
Vitali Umanski and his colleagues Bowen and Simon Zhang say another property at SJM Holdings, Jai Alai next to Casino Oceanus, will reopen in mid-2016 and will include 130 hotel rooms and 45 table games. Previous indications from a time when the Macau market was more buoyant indicated that the Jai Alai business would be combined with that of Casino Oceanus.
Last week, the group reported a 54.1% year-over-year decline in profit for the first six months of 2015. According to several analysts, SJM Holdings is trying to boost the public market after seeing Macau’s casino gross gaming revenue slowly decline in 2015.
Sanford Bernstein Ltd is quoted as saying that while SJM Holdings is committed to responding to Macau’s mass transition, it is still focused on its satellite and VIP segments. First, it means a change in the Macau game structure in the long run, and second, it means a satellite casino that relies on SJM Holdings’ game license but is operated by a third party.
Following the announcement of results from SJM Holdings, Union Gaming Securities Asia Limited said Casino Grand Lisboa, the company’s flagship property in Macau, will become a public market gaming zone in the fourth quarter. The zone will include 11 to 14 gaming tables, on top of the casino’s total 273 public market tables.