Macau’s Gaming Inspection and Coordination Bureau, or DICJ, has confirmed to Asia Gaming Brief that the watchdog has granted 150 new-to-market gaming tables for SJM Holdings’ new flagship property, the Grand Lisboa Palace.
SJM Resorts’ Chairman Daisy Ho first mentioned the table allocation on Wednesday. The chairman revealed that SJM’s new Cotai Strip property would be partially opening on Friday, with only one hotel tower opening at half capacity.
As of Thursday, the property’s website was accepting bookings starting from July 30th, only for its Grand Lisboa Palace Hotel, which has a total of 1,350 rooms.
Two other hotels will also open on the property, the Karl Lagerfeld and Palazzo Versace, by the end of this year, according to the group’s chairman.
Room rates for currently available rooms range from MOP1,399 ($175) to MOP1,999, no suites are currently available for booking.
Regarding dining and retail options, a package deal on the site appears to indicate that The Grand Buffet will have been licensed upon opening, although it’s unclear which other F&B outlets have also been authorised.
All of the currently listed retail outlets, as well as the spas are listed as “coming soon”.
The Thursday announcement by the chairman came as a surprise to investors, who were not issued a public notice of the Friday opening.
A note was issued on Thursday evening confirming the partial opening, with the company chairman in the release stating that “over the next few months, more facilities will continue to be added to Grand Lisboa Palace’s bouquet of legendary offerings as part of a rolling launch.”
Grand Lisboa Palace will be the first large-scale integrated resort to open during the pandemic and the opening comes amidst increased border control measures issued by Macau authorities for entry from China.
On Wednesday, the SJM Resorts Chairman said she didn’t believe the measures would affect the grand opening, noting that they had not yet caused a sharp drop in visitation.
Macau has been averaging less than 30,000 visitors per day from Mainland China in the days leading up to the opening, about a third of the daily visitation registered in the same month of 2019.
