Analysts are placing high hopes for MGM China’s Cotai venture, months before it opens its doors to public.

Brokerage Union Gaming Securities LLC forecasts the MGM Cotai casino resort to bring in US$214 million of adjusted property earnings before interest, taxation, depreciation and amortization (EBITDA) in 2017.

That estimate, according to Union Gaming analyst John DeCree, is based on three quarters of the casino’s operations.

There has been speculations that the casino resort’s opening will be pushed back to the second quarter of 2017, but Hong Kong-based MGM China Holdings Ltd. co-chairperson Pansy Ho Chiu King assured that the scheduled opening for the MGM Cotai project in the first quarter of 2017 remains on track.