LOS ANGELES, Feb 25 (Reuters) – Las Vegas Sands Corp (LVS.N) planned to appeal a court ruling that voided the casino operator’s license to operate a ferry service between Hong Kong and the Chinese gambling enclave of Macau, it said on Wednesday.
Sands, which operates two casino resorts in Macau, said it expected to continue to run the ferry service until a decision by Macau’s Court of Final Appeal or other resolution of the matter.
A lower court this week ruled that the government had unlawfully awarded a license to Sands-controlled ferry operator CotaiJet without a public tender.
“We believe the Macau authorities are committed to finding a solution that, in the event the lower court ruling is not reversed, would ensure that CotaiJet ferry operations are not suspended and that the public interest is protected,” Sheldon Adelson, Sands’ chairman and chief executive, said in a statement.
The ferry service is part of Adelson’s plan to improve transportation options between Hong Kong and Cotai, a strip of reclaimed land on which he built the Venetian Macao Resort-Hotel.
(Reporting by Deena Beasley, editing by Leslie Gevirtz)
