Melco Resorts & Entertainment will build a casino and integrated resort (IR) in the center of Sri Lanka’s capital Colombo, the company said on Tuesday, coinciding with its first-quarter earnings report.
Dream City Sri Lanka (pictured in artist renders) will be a $1 billion initiative in partnership with John Keells Holdings Plc, which has been described as the largest publicly traded conglomerate on the Colombo Stock Exchange.
Initial investment in the casino portion of the project is expected to be approximately $125 million.
“For us, $125 million is a small bet for a potentially big opportunity,” Lawrence Hou Yau-Lung, chairman and CEO of Melco Resorts, said of the venture in Sri Lanka
“From a GGR [Gross Gaming Revenue] perspective, Sri Lanka could be comfortable between $200 million and $250 million per year on an operating rate basis, along with the first phase of casino development,” said Geoff Davis, chief financial officer at Melco Resorts, on a call
The complex will feature an 800-room hotel and facilities for casinos, conferences, incentives, conferences and exhibitions (MICE).
A press release on Tuesday said a fully owned local unit of the Melco Group had received a 20-year casino license from the Sri Lankan government.
Melco will “operate with City of Dream Sri Lanka’s gaming zone, and Melco will manage the hotel’s top five floors under the Nuwa brand of ultra-luxury luxury rooms representing 113 of City of Dream Sri Lanka’s 800 total hotel rooms,” the statement said.
“Melco and John Kills have agreed to all major commercial agreements and expect to launch soon in the casino area,” the release said.
Ho was quoted as saying, “We are excited to partner with John Kelce to be part of this groundbreaking development in Sri Lanka.
“We believe Sri Lanka has tremendous potential and this opportunity complements our existing property portfolio.”
“It’s a capital light investment with an attractive revenue profile to expand our City of Dreams brand and expand our customer reach,” the chairman said of Sri Lanka’s opportunities in his first-quarter earnings call.
According to an earlier release, the non-gaming facility in the complex, including 687 Cinnamon Life Hotel rooms to be managed by John Hills, is “in the final stages of completion and is expected to begin operations in the third quarter of 2024,” with casino operations “expected to begin in mid-2025 ″.”
“Depending on performance and market conditions, we have the potential to further expand our gaming facilities,” the release added.
“Sri Lanka can go to India, Macau can go to China,” Ho suggested in the casino group’s first-quarter earnings call.
“We’re very excited about the market.” It’s b so far
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