City of Dreams parent company Melco Resorts and Entertainment looks to the West; Cyprus property poised to captivate Europe and ME markets

City of Dreams Mediterranean GM says property will leverage its Asian success to a new market; poker tournaments, challenges, and other prospects discussed.

Original story and interview by Kelsey Wilhelm for Asia Gaming Brief

Melco’s ambitious venture into Europe, City of Dreams Mediterranean, is scheduled for success – or at least the operator is banking on that, as it leverages its 100 tables and 1,000 slot machines to maximize synergy of its sun-drenched shores with its casino operation.

Macau-veteran and current General Manager of the Cyprus property, Grant Johnson, shares with AGB his views on what direction the group is aiming for, and why CoD Mediterranean has what it takes to be the biggest IR in Europe.

Looking directly at the market, Johnson notes that the property will “offer a wide range of experiences to address different types of audiences across various target markets, including those from the Middle East, North Africa and Europe who have yet to experience Melco’s IRs in Asia.”

That’s not to say that the property won’t also leverage its Asian footprint, with the GM noting that “there will be cross-promotions between the properties, including Melco Club offers providing customers opportunities to experience the Melco properties in different jurisdictions”.

After years of running satellite casinos in the region, the culmination of CoD Mediterranean provides the group with the guest experience similar to that it offers at its Asian properties, a 500-hotel room, luxury property with gaming tables and slots. But despite boasting a zone dedicated to Poker, the group has not yet sought partners to run the space.

“We remain focused on business development at the integrated resorts at this time. Currently, we have no plans to seek partnerships for Poker but do have plans to start running Poker tournaments later this year,” notes Johnson.

Recently Melco Resorts and Entertainment, announced that they managed to reduce its losses from 251.49 million USD to 23.44M this quarter (versus same time last year). The developer of the Philippines’s City of Dreams announced that July has been its best month since reopening and is set to develop W Macau property further.

Melco’s interest in Cyprus came far before the pandemic but was weighed down by the effects of the closures and subsequent troubles in Europe. To learn more about the challenges that the Cyprus property had to face, read the full story at https://agbrief.com/intelligence/deep-dive/03/08/2023/city-of-dreams-mediterranean-targeting-middle-east-north-africa-and-europe-synergy-with-macau/