‘Time to pull em up!’: Macau’s Grand Emperor Hotel rips floor apart to sell gold bars

Decorative bars laid in the floor for US$1.2 million 20 years ago are now worth US$13 million

Rowan Dunne

Published

3 hours ago

Employees at Macau’s Grand Emperor Hotel, owned by Emperor Entertainment Hotel Ltd (FRA: EM7A) (HKG: 0296), recently were instructed to tear up the lobby floor so that embedded gold bars could be sold for immense gains in the current precious metal pricing environment.

The hotel removed a total of 79 kilograms and sold them to a Hong Kong-based refiner for approximately US$12.8 million. Gold was only worth between US$500 to US$600 per ounce when the hotel opened its doors in 2006. It is now trading for approximately US$5,020, largely due to geopolitical tensions and economic turmoil.

This decision is also attributable to the hotel’s strategic shift of shuttering its casino operations last fall and deciding to renovate the hotel lobby for new entertainment facilities. Moreover, the sale has eliminated ongoing security and insurance costs while lining the company’s pockets for future endeavours.

Cast from 999.9 fine Swiss gold, each piece helped to form a “golden pathway” that attracted guests who would frequently pose for photographs, believing it was good luck to stroll over the bullion.

The Grand Emperor Hotel has a rich history linked to Macau’s gaming boom. It made its debut in the mid-2000s as a luxury casino hotel in the downtown core of the city.

Aside from the luxurious gold floor, it showcased other extravagant features like a European antique gold carriage from the 1700s.

For many years, the hotel was emblematic of Macau’s flashy casino culture, attracting many tourists and gamblers with deep pockets.

However, more than 15 years after Beijing began pushing for economic diversification away from gaming in Macau, the hotel finally pivoted from gambling last October, putting an end to its era of opulent displays.

Macau has been distinct from mainland China as a Special Administrative Region since the Portuguese handed over control of it in December of 1999. It has greater autonomy under the “one country, two systems” policy, thereby allowing the region to be the only part of China where casino gambling is legally permitted along with other economic and political distinctions. It led the world in gaming revenue last year.