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Luxury & Gaming

Luxury & Gaming
News about the luxury and gaming sectors with a focus on developments in Hong Kong, Macau and China.
After a five-year search for a buyer, The 13 Hotel in Macau finally welcomes a new owner. Photo: Handout
Macau

Macau luxury property The 13 Hotel sells for HK$600 million to a local buyer

The sale to an unidentified buyer in Macau marks the city’s first hotel-related property transaction since the fourth quarter of 2017.

Indonesia

Is Indonesia ready to roll the dice on casinos at the risk of social costs?

Macau

Macau’s closure of satellite casinos to favour licensed resort operators

China property

The future of retirement for wealthy Hongkongers could be this Zhuhai community

HN Group’s Serensia Woods, a 135,000-square-metre retirement community, is catering to Hong Kong’s ageing population with flats starting at HK$10 million.

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Serensia Woods, a 13,500-square-metre retirement community in Zhuhai’s Hengqin island, includes a 133-room hotel, four residential towers, four wellness centre towers and a spa centre. Photo: Handout
Macau

Macau’s Galaxy boss: open Hengqin Island to address hotel shortage

Development of the island, which is three times Macau’s size, would boost the economy and its diversification, Francis Lui Yiu-tung says.

Art Basel

Macau’s Poly MGM Museum draws 500,000 punters with hi-tech historical displays

Fusing ancient artefacts with cutting-edge technology, Macau’s new Poly MGM Museum is drawing huge crowds eager for an immersive historical experience.

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Hong Kong property

Hong Kong’s Tsim Sha Tsui is the world’s most expensive luxury shopping district

Prime retail rent in TST, as the area is called, was £17,132 (US$22,976) per square metre per annum in the fourth quarter, according to Savills’ report.

Shoppers queued up at the Louis Vuitton store on Canton Road in Hong Kong’s Tsim Sha Tsui district in Kowloon on 2 January 2025. Photo: Jelly Tse
Greater Bay Area

Macau’s most opulent lodging, The 13 Hotel and Casino, up for sale again

The 22-storey luxury property in Macau’s Coloane district was estimated last year to be worth US$309 million.

Art Basel

How Macau’s government and casino operators are betting on culture

The 2025 Culture City of East Asia is hoping visitors will buy into its transformation to a hub for art installations and concerts.

Mainland China

Hong Kong still among world’s top wealth hubs, according to Knight Frank report

There were an estimated 42,715 high-net-worth individuals in Hong Kong last year, making up around 0.6 per cent of the city’s population.

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A view of Kowloon, looking across Victoria Harbour. Photo: Elson Li
Thailand

Thailand eyes US$1.5 million minimum for local casino gamblers

The requirement would effectively block large swathes of the population – creating what one gaming analyst called a ‘foreigner-only regime’.

An elderly Thai man counts cash in front of a bank in Bangkok. Photo: EPA-EFE
Macau

Exclusive | New Galaxy Macau chairman builds constellation of 5-star hotels

Francis Lui adds the opulent Capella hotel to the second-largest casino and resort operator’s growing universe of lodgings and attractions.

Thailand

Thailand’s plan to legalise casinos opposed by most citizens: poll

Many Thais also objected to the government’s plan to legalise online gambling, according to the poll by Nida.

Thailand

Thailand is pushing ahead with its grand casino plans – and Thaksin’s all for it

Thailand’s cabinet has approved a draft law to legalise casinos. The Thai PM’s father says gambling could net billions in tax revenue.

Image: Kevin Wong
The Philippines

Why closing Pogos won’t solve the Philippines’ China problems

The battle against corruption, crime and Chinese interference that offshore gaming operators represented is far from over, experts say.

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Philippine Interior Secretary Juanito Remulla places the closure sign on a Pogo hub in Cavite province on Tuesday. Photo: AFP
Retailing

Over half of mainland Chinese luxury consumers plan to increase spending: report

Report says 56 per cent of mainland Chinese luxury consumers plan to increase their purchases from domestic brands.

Hong Kong property

Art houses Christie’s, Sotheby’s show off flashy new Hong Kong showrooms

The auction houses’ glammed up spaces are a reflection of their desire to change the way they conduct business.

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Singapore

‘Unsatisfactory’: Singapore curtails Resorts World Sentosa’s casino licence

The city state’s Gambling Regulatory Authority said the casino had areas that ‘require rectification and substantial improvement’.

Resorts World Sentosa in Singapore. Photo: Roy Issa
Hong Kong property

Omega leases another Hong Kong shop amid retail leasing pickup

Swiss luxury watchmaker Omega is leasing another shop on Russell Street, once the world’s priciest retail strip, for US$51,404 a month.

Singapore

Singapore gives go ahead for cashless gambling at its casinos

Cashless betting will allow players at gaming tables and machines to use virtual credits, but not cryptocurrencies, from e-wallets.

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Mobile gaming

Black Myth: Wukong fans rush to fill China’s game-enabled hotels

Stay-and-play getaways in rooms with high-powered PCs prove popular among fans who lack their own hardware or just want to enjoy the game in a comfortable setting with friends.

Gamers play at a Wanyoo hotel on Changshou Road in Shanghai. Photo: Weibo/ 第一财经网
Retailing

Shanghai’s all-in-price party complex draws young throngs despite economic jitters

Shanghai’s LKF? In an exclusive interview, gaming and esports kingpin Dino Ying explains how his nightlife hotspot INS is a hit with budget-conscious locals and tourists.

INS in Shanghai combines an e-sports arena with a comedy club, restaurants and six nightclubs. Photo: Handout
United States

‘Las Vegas always reinvents itself’ – game-changing casino The Mirage shuts

Las Vegas casino The Mirage, opened in 1989 and famous for its dolphins, volcano and tropical island theme, has shut its doors. It will be turned into the guitar-shaped Hard Rock Las Vegas, opening in 2027.

The Philippines

In Philippines, Chinese gambler-focused Pogos face fresh ban threat

A Philippine senator is calling for the Philippine Offshore Gaming Operator sector to be outlawed, citing a string of criminal activity ranging from human trafficking to scams.

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Macau

MGM China sees revenue soar as it achieves its highest ever market share

The Macau casino operator announced better-than-expected first-quarter earnings and has set its sights on maintaining its highest ever share of the mass market gaming segment.

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Kenneth Feng, executive director and president of MGM China, attributed the positive results to the company’s ‘deep understanding of its customers, particularly in the premium mass market segment’. Photo: Yik Yeung-man
Thailand

All bets are off: will Thailand cash in as it spins the wheel on casinos?

The Buddhist kingdom plans to take a punt on legalised gambling as it rues the billions of dollars in untapped gaming revenue that’s been left on the table. But will it hit the jackpot?

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Industry insiders speculate a legalised gaming sector could rake in as much as US$5 billion a year for Thailand by the end of the decade. Image: Shutterstock/Kevin Wong
Banking & finance

HSBC summit: China’s young ultra-rich reshaping wealth management, art, luxury

Wealth management is transforming into ‘a new virtual format in addition to the traditional finance space’, asset manager says.

Luxury brands

Gucci’s China shock reverberates across luxury market amid spending slowdown

Fears of a slowdown in spending among Chinese shoppers have dogged the luxury industry for the better part of a year. Gucci’s sales slump may be a sign of things to come.

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