Sociedade de Jogos de Macau, the city's dominant casino operator, is expanding the casino on to four additional floors of the San Kin Yip Commercial Center across from the Casino Lisboa, said Alan Ho, a member of SJM's management committee.

The casino previously occupied a single floor, but added a second floor this month.

Ho said another phase will open next month, with the whole project wrapping up by the end of the year. As part of the expansion, the casino is getting a makeover in an ``Arabian Nights'' theme as well as several additional VIP rooms.

SJM opened the largest of its four Mocha Slot electronic gaming halls on another floor of the lightly occupied office building last summer.

Ho declined to say how many tables would be in the expanded casino or provide the cost of the project but said it was made difficult by a need for HK$30 million in upgraded wiring and cooling systems. Before it was taken off line recently, the web site of Casino Design, the company handling the overhaul, said the first phase of the expansion would create a public gaming area with 44 tables and six VIP rooms with 18 tables. The casino previously held 24 tables.

The Kampek will not have a long run as a major player in the neighborhood as the much larger HK$1.8 billion Galaxy StarWorld casino hotel and the first phase of the HK$7.8 billion Wynn Macau casino resort are to open across the street next year.

Even with just 24 tables, the Kampek generated HK$1.4 billion in revenue in 2003, the fourth-highest figure among Macau's casinos, according to a Wynn Resorts estimate. The casino had a niche as the only one in the city to allow players to bet with patacas.

As a whole, SJM generated 35.2 billion patacas (HK$34.2 billion) in gambling revenue last year, up from 28.7 billion in 2003, according to its annual report. SJM's take represented 88 percent of Macau's casino revenue in 2004, the first year the company faced competition. SJM's profits rose to 4billion patacas from 3.3 billion in 2003.

zach.coleman@singtaonewscorp.com