Macau-based casino resort developer and operator Macau Legend Development Ltd. said this week that it expects to complete the construction of a multimillion integrated resort in Cape Verde by the end of 2020.
First news of Macau Legend’s planned expansion into the island nation located off the coast of Northwest Africa emerged in 2015. Back then, the company’s owner, businessman David Chow, signed several agreements with the Government of Cape Verde authorizing the development of the casino resort.
With an estimated overall investment of €250 million, Macau Legend’s project is the largest tourism development scheme in Cape Verde. The complex will occupy a 152,700-square-meter area in the islet of Santa Maria in Praia, the capital of the island nation.
The first phase of the project, the one slated to be completed by the end of 2020, will feature a boutique casino, a 250-room hotel, a swimming pool, an array of food and beverage facilities, and retail space, among other amenities.
Under Macau Legend’s agreement with Cape Verde’s government, any future phases of the hotel and casino complex are “subject to market conditions and new policies” adopted by the government.
CV Entertainment Co, a subsidiary of Macau Legend, has obtained a 25-year gaming license for the company’s integrated resort project at a cost of €1.2 million. It has also received an exclusive ten-year license for the provision of online gaming and sports betting services.
Construction Progress
Macau Legend laid the first stone of its Cape Verde resort in February 2016. At a recent presentation, the company’s boss said that they were on track to complete the first phase in 2020. The Portuguese-Chinese investor further revealed that they had already constructed a bridge that would connect Santa Maria and Gamboa Beach, with “some final landscaping work on the access road” still to be completed.
The development of casinos on the territory of Cape Verde was authorized in 2013 when the nation’s new gambling laws came into effect. Those new rules allowed the construction of casinos on the islands of Boa Vista, Maoi, Sal, Santiago, where Praia is located, and Sao Vicente.
The €5 million Casino Royal was the first gambling property to open doors under the new regulatory regime. The facility was launched in May 2013 at the premises of the Hilton hotel in Santa Maria on Sal Island.
Cape Verde’s move to legalize casino on select islands came as part of the nation’s effort to boost international visits from around 600,000 per year to more than 2 million tourists.
Of their choice to expand into Cape Verde, Mr. Chow previously said that the nation is “a Portuguese-speaking country that enjoys political stability, beautiful scenery, and pleasant climate with convenient transportation network.”
He further elaborated that Cape Verde has the potential to attract visitors from North and West Africa, Europe, South America, Central America, and the Caribbean region, as well as Chinese gamblers as more and more Chinese nationals “emigrate in these places and this saves them from flying long to Asia.”
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