Sands Macao has launched a distinct gaming area called the “Pearl Gaming Room” (pictured), at the downtown-Macau peninsula casino-hotel.
The screened gaming area (pictured) is on the ground floor near the escalator that leads to the Sands China Ltd property’s main gaming area on the first floor.
A Thursday visit by GGRAsia saw the Pearl Gaming Room offering about 30 smart tables with live-dealer baccarat, and minimum bets mostly at either HKD300 (US$38) or HKD500.
The Pearl Gaming Room opened only recently, according to industry sources. GGRAsia has approached Sands China, seeking further information about the new facility.
The new area continues Sands China’s strategy of offering what analysts say is the Macau market’s most comprehensive set of baccarat side bets per table. These are: pair bets, tie bets, ‘Lucky 6’, ‘Small 6/Big 6’, ‘Lucky 7’, ‘Small/Big 7’ and ‘Super Lucky 7’.
Baccarat play at the Pearl Gaming Room is linked to Sands China’s progressive jackpot setup that also applies to live-dealer baccarat games on Sands Macao’s main gaming zone on the first floor. There, minimum live-table baccarat bets ranged on Thursday from HKD300 to HKD1,000.
Sands Macao’s first floor also features an extensive area for live multi-game (LMG) play, as well as a variety of electronic table games (ETGs) and slot machines.
On Thursday GGRAsia also visited other Macau-peninsula properties to observe activity there following the ending of the satellite casino era. Most satellites used to be in the downtown area.
Minimum live-table bets on main-floor areas at Grand Lisboa, Wynn Macau, MGM Macau, and StarWorld Hotel, mostly ranged between HKD1,000 and HKD2,000. The venues are run respectively by SJM Holdings Ltd, Wynn Macau Ltd, MGM China Holdings Ltd, and Galaxy Entertainment Group Ltd.
All those properties also had live-table baccarat bets as low as either HKD300 or HKD500 in specific areas, and they were well-populated by players. That bet price range had been common in Macau’s now-shuttered satellite casinos, based on GGRAsia site visits in the run-up to satellite closures that concluded at year-end.
Banking institution Citigroup noted in its December betting survey for the Macau sector, that mass-market live-baccarat minimums had shown some weakening since October. It suggested a factor might have been Macau’s six operators competing for players that had previously been clients of satellites.