Cotai Strip
The Cotai Strip is a term coined by Las Vegas Sands Corporation with regard to its building of a strip of hotel-casinos in the Cotai section of Macau, a special administrative region of the People's Republic of China. Cotai was the result of a major land reclamation project which joined the two islands of Coloane and Taipa, and is part of the Macau government's continuous efforts to expand the region's territory. The reclaimed land in Cotai is to be mainly used for casino developments and Las Vegas Sands Corporation envisioned that their development of several adjacent properties would comprise an area that would resemble the Las Vegas Strip, albeit on a considerably smaller scale. Over the past decade, the layout of the Cotai Strip has also slowly developed into a grid like layout with major hotels and casinos built not directly connected to the 'strip' as opposed to Las Vegas strip with the majority of major hotels and casinos with front access to the Las Vegas strip.
Naming
The United States Patent and Trademark Office has granted Las Vegas Sands Corporation a trademark on the term "Cotai Strip", however some members of the press use the term to refer to all of the hotel-casinos in Cotai.History
Creation
The Cotai Strip is a term coined by American Las Vegas Sands Corporation with regard to its building of a strip of hotel-casinos in the Cotai section of Macau, a special administrative region of the People's Republic of China.Galaxy Entertainment Group's Grand Waldo Hotel was the first casino to commence operations in Cotai, opening its doors in May, 2006. The construction of many other casino and hotel projects is currently underway. The largest and most notable property on Cotai so far is Las Vegas Sands' Venetian Macao, which opened its doors on August 28, 2007. Melco PBL Holdings opened the City of Dreams directly across the street from the Venetian on June 1, 2009.
Economic crisis (2008-2010)
Due to the 2008 financial crisis, up to 11,000 construction workers are to lose their jobs as US gaming giant Las Vegas Sands cuts back its development in Macau. Stephen Weaver, Sands' president for Asia, said up to 11,000 workers will lose their jobs in Macau after the company halted building projects in the city. Developments of site no. 5 and no. 6 on the strip will be halted.Las Vegas Sands has focused its construction work on the Marina Bay Sands Resort in Singapore.
On 30 November 2009 the Las Vegas Sands corp announced it had secured $1.75 billion to complete its Shangri-La, Traders and Sheraton Hotels, which were abandoned 65% complete in mid-2008. The 636 room Shangri-La Hotel, 1,200 room Traders Hotel and an over 2,000 room Sheraton hotel was scheduled to open in June 2011. In December 2011 the Sheraton will open a further 2,000 rooms in another tower. The Sheraton will have 4,067 rooms. The St Regis Hotel might be completed in a further stage. Sheldon Adelson revealed it would take "a year and a half or so" to complete the new Cotai resort at plots 5 and 6 on 9 January 2011, meaning the sites will be completed by about mid-2012.
No information was released about Cotai plots 3, 7 and 8. These are very likely to be cancelled. Macao's director of the Lands, Public Works and Transport Bureau, Jaime Carion, said on 5 December 2010, that the Government is now looking at developing non-gaming projects in Cotai. He stressed that the Sands China application procedure for plots 7 and 8 was not fully complete and the Government would announce the result at the most convenient time.
Galaxy Entertainment who is building Galaxy Macau has also stated that after having very slow construction in 2009, it will try to get its Cotai first phase development open for Q1 2011. Galaxy Macau was eventually opened on 15 May 2011.
Recent developments
As of February 2016, several new hotel-casinos have opened in Cotai, with several more scheduled to open in 2016 including the Wynn Palace and the MGM Cotai. Somewhere close to US$50 billion has been or is being invested in Cotai.Transportation
- Macau Light Rapid Transit – As of 2018, it is under construction. It will serve the Macau Peninsula, Taipa and Cotai, serving major border checkpoints such as the Border Gate, the Outer Harbour Ferry Terminal, the Lotus Bridge Border and the Macau International Airport. It will have stops at nearly every casinos as it meanders through the peripheral road of the Cotai strip.
List of casinos and hotels in Cotai by Macau concessionaires
Properties in Cotai
| Property Name | Owner | Opened in | Features |
| The Venetian Macao | Las Vegas Sands Corporation | 2007-08-28 |
|
| The Plaza Macao | Las Vegas Sands Corporation | 2008-08-28 | |
| City of Dreams Macau | Melco Crown Entertainment | 2009-06-01 | |
| Galaxy Macau | Galaxy Entertainment Group | 2011-05-15 | |
| Sands Cotai Central | Las Vegas Sands Corporation | 2012-04-11 | |
| Studio City Macau | Melco Crown Entertainment | 2015-10-27 | |
| Broadway Macau | Galaxy Entertainment Group | 2015-05-27 |
|
| The Parisian Macao | Las Vegas Sands Corporation | 2016-09-13 | |
| Wynn Palace | Wynn Resorts Development LLC | 2016-08-22 | |
| MGM Cotai | MGM Resorts International | 2018-02-13 | |
| Louis XIII | XIII Holdings | 2018-08-31 | |
| Lisboa Palace | SJM Holdings | 2019-12-31 | |
| Lisboeta | SJM Holdings | 2020 |
Future properties in Cotai
Theme park and resort
The Macau Theme Park and Resort Ltd, controlled by Angela Leong On Kei, has said that it intends to build a MOP 10.4 billion family-oriented amusement resort and hotels in Cotai. According to a press statement, the integrated resort project will be developed in three phases and each of them will take about two and a half to three years to complete.The company revealed that the entire family resort will consist of one 5-star, four 4-star and one 3-star hotels with over 6,000 guest rooms, shopping malls, convention facilities, an indoor beach and wave pool, amusement rides, a 4D theatre, an equestrian centre, a horse carriage trail as well as a water sports performance centre.
SJM Holdings is in talks with Macau Theme Park and Resort Ltd to try to find a way for both companies to cooperate on Cotai, chief executive officer, Ambrose So Shu Fai, revealed on 16 December 2010. Stanley Ho's SJM is still waiting for the Government to approve the application for a plot in Cotai, which sits just beside the Macau Dome and the land where the company, headed by businesswoman and lawmaker Angela Leong On Kei – who is also Stanley Ho's fourth wife and SJM's director –, is set to build the theme park. "We are not a shareholder in the theme park development, but we did talk with Angela Leong, who is developing that theme park, to see if there is a synergy between the two plots of land," So told reporters.
Wynn Palace
The new Casino resort is called Wynn Palace with a second phase entitled Wynn Diamond.Wynn announced in mid August 2010 that he will be building a new casino resort on a plot behind the City of Dreams and Las Vegas Sands ' St Regis, plot 5 and Sheraton Resorts. Steve Wynn said the Cotai project could break ground in March or April 2011, as the building's design is complete. The casino magnate said it could open in late 2014 or early 2015. But Citi believes that Steve Wynn may have to wait until at least 2016 to open its Cotai resort, noting that the company gave no timeframe in its latest report.
Wynn's new project in Macau is expected to cost over MOP 20 billion. Asked when the construction will begin on 16 May 2011, Steve Wynn replied, "Right away, after we get the approval from the government". He said the new hotel casino would open within four or five years, which means the end of 2014 or early 2015. The new resort would more than double the operator's hotel rooms in the SAR. "I believe the Cotai project is the best work we have done. It's a departure in many aspects. It has many new things and new approaches to the way the property is presented. I think the public is going to be very excited. It's very comfortable and user-friendly. Now that we have nine years of experience in Macau, as you saw with Encore we are learning how to really address the emotional and physical needs of our guests. That kind of insight comes with time and experience. Thankfully we have the experience."
Wynn Macau Ltd. said on 12 September 2011 it accepted the terms and conditions of a land concession contract from the Macau government to develop of land in Macau's Cotai area. It said the contract permits its Palo Estate Co. Ltd. unit and Wynn Resorts S.A. to develop a resort containing a five-star hotel, gaming areas, retail, entertainment, food and beverage, spa and convention offerings.
Under the contract, Palo will lease the Cotai land from the Macau government for an initial term of 25 years and have the right to renew the contract for additional periods. On top of a US$193.43 million land premium payment, Palo is also required to pay the Macau government US$771,738 per year in rent during development phase of the resort and US$1.08 million per year in rent once development is completed, the company said, adding the rent may be reviewed by the Macau government every five year.
On 5 June 2012, Wynn Macau announced the construction of its first integrated resort in Cotai at a tag of US$4 billion, which will take around 4 years to construct and will have 500 gaming tables.
MGM China
Breaking ground in February 2013, MGM China are currently constructing a casino and hotel complex, consisting of approximately 1500 hotel suites and an estimated 500,000 sq feet gambling floor. The site that MGM is constructing on is almost three times smaller than the plot constructed on by rival operator Wynn Macau, a area next to City of Dreams and Macau University of Science and Technology.The MGM website states that this projects has a construction budget of HK$24 billion, and is expected to open in the second quarter of 2017.