Studio City Macau

Studio City Macau: what the resort is

Studio City is a large-scale, cinematically themed integrated entertainment, retail and gaming resort in Cotai, Macau⁷. It opened in October 2015 as a US$3.2 billion project, and from the start it was designed to be something different from the classic Macau casino hotel: a Hollywood-themed resort built around movies, shows and family entertainment rather than pure high-stakes gambling¹.

The theme shows up in the attractions. The resort's signature sight is the Golden Reel, billed as the world's highest figure-8 Ferris wheel, whose pods loop between the two hotel towers⁶. Alongside it the resort has offered a Batman-themed 4D flight simulation, a 5,000-seat multi-purpose entertainment center, and a magic venue, the House of Magic, which ran until it closed in October 2017⁹. The operator's current list of facilities also includes a year-round, temperature-controlled indoor water park, the first Dolby Cinema in the Hong Kong and Macau region, a 4D flight experience theater, and even a hospital with MRI and CT scanners on site¹⁰.

The resort was conceived as the flagship of Macau's push to reinvent itself as a mass-market, family-orientated gaming destination, at a time when the industry's VIP business was shrinking fast⁸. That positioning shaped everything about it, from the casino floor to the entertainment mix, and it is worth understanding before you visit: Studio City is, by design, a resort for ordinary travelers, couples and families rather than a junket palace.

The hotel side opened with 1,600 rooms, and demand was strong from the start: occupancy reached 90 percent within days of opening². In 2018 the resort added an esports angle, opening the Macau EStadium at Studio City in July of that year, after Lawrence Ho had talked up plans for an e-sports stadium at the property¹¹.

Location: south end of the Cotai Strip

Studio City sits at the south end of the Cotai Strip, the stretch of reclaimed land between Taipa and Coloane where most of Macau's biggest modern resorts now stand². The operator describes the site as being in the core area of Cotai, at the heart of the strip's entertainment district¹³.

That puts it in good company. The southern end of Cotai is the most concentrated resort zone in Macau: the City of Dreams, Melco's other Cotai property, sits at the same southern end of the strip, next to The Parisian Macao's half-scale Eiffel Tower¹⁴. Everything on the strip is connected by covered walkways and shuttle buses, so once you are at Studio City you can reach the neighboring resorts without going outside.

If you are coming from elsewhere in Macau, the Cotai Strip is served by the Cotai ferry terminal, the Taipa side of the Macau light rail, and the bridge connections to Zhuhai and the Macau airport. Studio City's position at the south end means it is one of the first big resorts you reach coming from the Coloane direction, and it is a short hop from Taipa Old Village, the former Portuguese neighborhood that is popular for its cafes and colonial streets.

Casino: tables, mass-market focus and VIP operations

The casino at Studio City is open around the clock, like all Macau casinos, which stay open 24 hours¹⁴. What makes it different is who it was built for.

When the resort was being planned, the project called for 300 to 400 gaming tables and 1,200 slot machines². Before opening, Deutsche Bank estimated the casino would receive 150 gaming tables, with reports suggesting the following split³:

The casino floor opened with no VIP tables in sight, a deliberate statement of intent for a property pitched at the mass market⁸.

The positioning was explicit. Studio City was aimed at customers "slightly below" the premium mass gamblers who frequent Melco's City of Dreams, though Ho believed the property was upscale enough to attract all customer types¹⁵. The company had originally said the property would start with 400 tables and have the capacity to accommodate around 500, so the government's smaller allocation meant the casino ran tighter than planned³.

The VIP story changed over time. About a year after opening, Studio City added VIP rooms, and by late 2016 it had introduced 33 VIP gaming tables alongside its 250 mass-market tables⁹. For context on what those rooms are like elsewhere in Macau, VIP rooms have historically been where clients bet $100,000 a shot, a different world from the main floor¹⁷. By 2019 the property was operating 46 VIP tables, largely junket but also direct VIP⁴.

That experiment ended on January 15, 2020, when Melco ceased VIP rolling chip operations at the Studio City casino, with analysts suggesting the tables could be put to better use at City of Dreams or Altira⁴. The resort has since returned to something closer to its original identity: a mass-market floor with premium mass play, rather than a junket-driven VIP house. For how junkets and VIP rooms work generally, see junkets and VIP rooms in Macau; for the games you will actually find on the floor, see casino games in Macau.

Phase 2 expansion: water park, cineplex and hotel towers

Phase 2 is the big expansion that changed the resort's shape. As originally described in 2019, it includes two hotel towers, a gaming area, a water park, retail, food and beverage outlets and a home theater⁴.

The opening was pushed back: work that had been expected to finish earlier was delayed to the second quarter of 2023¹⁸. Phase 2 then opened in stages through the second quarter of 2023, with the first stage including one of the hotel towers and the indoor water park, and the second stage expected in the third quarter¹⁹. Other facilities followed progressively through the third quarter of 2023²¹.

What actually arrived:

• Indoor water park. The water park was the headline attraction of the first stage of Phase 2, expected in the second quarter of 2023, and the operator describes it as a year-round, temperature-controlled indoor park, so it is not a summer-only attraction⁵.
• New gaming floor. Phase 2 added a new gaming floor of over 2,300 square meters⁵.
• Cineplex. A six-screen Cineplex opened as part of the expansion, complementing the Dolby Cinema already in the resort⁵.
• Hotel towers. Two new hotel towers added capacity on top of the original 1,600 rooms⁴.
• Retail and food. The expansion's retail mix includes the city's largest Don Don Donki supermarket, the Japanese chain's flagship store¹⁸.

Phase 2 matters for gamblers mainly because of the extra gaming floor, but it matters even more for anyone traveling with family or non-gambling companions: between the water park, the Cineplex, the Ferris wheel and the 4D flight theater, Studio City now has one of the deepest non-gaming lineups on the Cotai Strip¹⁰.

What this page cannot tell you before you go

Some things about Studio City are not published in the sources here. Current table counts and the exact mix of games on the floor change as the operator moves tables between properties, so the figures above describe the resort's history and opening allocation rather than a guaranteed count today. Ticket prices for the Golden Reel, the water park and the 4D flight theater, plus current opening hours for each attraction, are published on the resort's own site and posted at the door.

Dress standards at Macau resorts are casual in the main public areas, but individual venues such as fine-dining restaurants may set their own requirements. Entry to Macau casinos is restricted, and the rules differ for visitors, residents and mainland ID holders; they are covered in casino entry rules in Macau. For how to get to the Cotai Strip from the ferry terminal, airport or border, see getting to and around Macau's casinos, and for what money to bring and how payments work on the floor, see money and payments at Macau casinos.