galaxy macau (galaxy macau, banyan tree, hotel okura, the ritz-carlton and jw marriott) and a drive around cotai strip, past the venetian macau, taipa-macau, 26 dec 2021@papa osmubal
credits:
dennis deyoung’s ‘desert moon’ cover song by ice bucket band
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Galaxy Entertainment Group (GEG; 河娛樂集團) is a company listed on the Hong Kong Stock Exchange that owns and operates hotels and casinos in Macau through its subsidiary, Galaxy Casino S.A. Founded by Lui Che Woo in 1988, the company, known formerly as K. Wah Construction Materials, disposed of its construction material business and became the only Hong Kong-listed company to hold an operating license in Macau in 2005 by acquiring a 97.9% stake in Galaxy Casino SA. The deal was described as akin to ‘a snake trying to swallow an elephant.’ Galaxy and Venetian Macau had originally planned to run their gaming license in Macau jointly, but the two had since split and decided to run their gaming business separately. In February 2020 the company confirmed it had withdrawn from its bidding in Osaka and would instead focus on other licenses in Japan, including Yokohama among others. After its Macau casinos were closed that month for the Corvid outbreak as well as other casinos, the company said it would return to full capacity only after guest demand had increased. The company owns the following casinos and hotels in Macau— The StarWorld Macau (Macau Peninsula); City Clubs casinos in Macau peninsula (namely, Waldo Casino, President Casino, and Rio Casino), Broadway Casino (Cotai Strip), and The Galaxy Macau (Cotai Strip). (see StarWorld Macau; see Waldo Casino-Hotel; see President Casino; see Rio Casino-Hotel; see Galaxy Macau; see Lui Che Woo; see Broadway Casino)
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Galaxy Macau (澳門銀河綜合渡假城) is a casino resort located on the Cotai Strip, Macau, China. Construction on the Cotai project began in 2002. Its opening was rescheduled several times. Its developer, Galaxy Entertainment Group, announced on 10 March 2011 that the HKD 14.9 billion (US$1.9 billion) resort would officially open on 15 May 2011. The resort is designed by Gary Goddard. The resort currently consists of five different hotels, each with its own ‘theme’, Galaxy Macau, Banyan Tree, Hotel Okura, The Ritz-Carlton and JW Marriott. When the Cotai project’s first phase opened in 2011. The 550,000 square meters (5,900,000 square feet) property offered around 2,200 hotel rooms comprising the Galaxy Macau hotel tower complete with casino and entertainment areas, as well as two hotel partners, the Japanese-owned Hotel Okura and the Singapore-operated Banyan Tree Hotel. On 26 April 2012, Galaxy Macau announced that JW Marriott and Ritz-Carlton hotels would be added to the Cotai resort. Galaxy’s Chief Financial Officer Robert Drake said it would start construction of the two hotels at the end of 2013 and begin operations gradually from 2016 through 2018. According to a presentation released by Galaxy Entertainment, the total investment for Galaxy Phase 2 was estimated to be 16 billion HKD with construction completion scheduled for mid-2015. Phase 2 would consist of 450,000 square meters (4,800,000 square feet) of new resort space, additional rooms across the five hotels and an increased casino table count of up to 500. Phase 2 was eventually opened on 27 May 2015.
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Cotai (路氹城; Zona do Aterro de Cotai) is a 5.2 square kilometers (2.0 square miles) piece of newly reclaimed land on top of Seac Pai Bay between Taipa and Coloane islands in Macau, that has made two independent islands become one island, since 2005. The word (a combination of Coloane and Taipa) can also refer to the entire new island which was formed by the reclamation. In the second sense, the Special Administrative Region of Macau now consists of the Macau Peninsula plus Cotai Island, about a mile to the south. Cotai was created to provide Macau with a new gambling and tourism area since Macau is so densely populated and land is scarce, and many hotels and casinos can be found in the vicinity of the ‘Cotai Strip’. In 2006, a new hospital was founded in the Cotai area, the MUST Hospital, which is associated with the Macau University of Science and Technology Foundation. In 1968, a causeway (Estrada do Istmo) connecting Taipa and Coloane was inaugurated. Throughout the 90s, a series of landfill works expanded this isthmus, and after the 1999 transfer of sovereignty over Macau from Portugal to China, further landfills began to expand this small isthmus further. The ‘Cotai Strip’ is a name dubbed to the entire hotel-casino area, when the term ‘Cotai Strip’ has been trademarked by Las Vegas Sands Corporation, which coined the phrase (USPTO Registration Nos. 4396486 and 4396486 for gaming and hotel services), and only applies to its properties. Galaxy Entertainment Group’s Grand Waldo Hotel was the first casino to commence operations in Cotai, opening its doors in May, 2006.
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