Inside Asian Gaming

INSIDE ASIAN GAMING | Oct 2007 34 I f imitation is the sincerest form of flat- tery, then Galaxy Entertainment Group (GEG) must be a great admirer of Las Ve- gas Sands Corp (LVS). Galaxy’s announcement—so soon af- ter the opening of The Venetian Macao— that it intends to supplement its Galaxy- World Resort site on Cotai by building a Venetian-style shopping mall, convention centre, an extra nine hotels, 8,500 units of serviced apartments and a further 380,000 square feet of gaming space, is long on commitment but short on details. It had been known for some time that Galaxy intended to develop its Cotai site in four phases. So far though, only phase one—involving the construction of Galaxy- World—had been publicly discussed and a budget of US$1.1 billion announced. GalaxyWorld is currently expected to comprise three hotel brands providing 2,500 hotel rooms and 320,000 square feet of gaming space, as compared to The Ve- netian’s current inventory of 550,000 sq. ft of gaming space and 3,000 hotel rooms. GalaxyWorld’s first hotel block and casino are expected to be completed by the end of 2008, with the second hotel building to be finished in 2009. Galaxy’s newly announced plans for phases two to four of its Cotai site include 1.4 million sq. ft of retail space (200,000 sq. ft more than currently available at The Ve- netian); 750,000 sq. ft of convention space (the equivalent of Hong Kong’s Conven- tion and Exhibition Centre but only around half of The Venetian’s current capacity) and nine more hotel brands. The fact Galaxy made such a point of announcing details of the ambitious later phases and the planning approval from the Macau government without actually Another Emerging Cotai Giant Galaxy Entertainment Group reveals its ambitious resort expansion plans having the funding, looks like a giant toe dipping exercise by the Hong Kong-listed operator. Source: Galaxy Entertainment Group -65% -466 (734) (268) Loss Attributable to Shareholders + 300% + 551 186 737 EBITDA + 385% + 5,026 1,306 6,332 Revenue Change % Change HK$ mm FY2006 HK$ mm FY2007 HK$ mm 2007 Half Year Results -Highlight Galaxy Expansion