Studio City will open in the most difficult period in Macau but Melco Crown’s boss remains positive in mass gaming market.

Melco Crown will open its third casino in Macau on Tuesday. Although the city saw its gross gaming revenue fall for the last 18 months, Melco’s chairman and CEO Lawrence Ho is hopeful that opening the $3.3b Studio City in a slumping market would prove a smart gamble for the company.

“What has been going on with the Chinese economy, especially the anti-graft campaign, has made the VIP environment more challenging in the near term, as fear has been driven into the hearts of many of the middle-to-upper class,” Ho told Fairfax Media. “However, the gaming market, especially the mass market segment, still has much potential for development.”

The company had opened City of Dreams in Macau six years ago during the “financial tsunami” but according to Ho, the resort casino had achieved great success for the company in helping to turn the city into a world-class entertainment hub.