Las Vegas Sands is ready to ante up US$10 billion to develop a resort casino in Japan.
“We will spend whatever it takes,” Chairman and Chief Executive Officer Sheldon Adelson said at a media briefing this week held in conjunction with an investment conference in Tokyo.
“We could pay all cash,” the billionaire said. “We don’t have to, but we will borrow money in a typical mortgage-to-value ratio.”
The company would also consider working with a local partner that could make more than a financial contribution, Mr Adelson said, without elaborating or naming any companies.
He said the casino giant also is opening offices and hiring in the country.
Japan’s national parliament, the Diet, is considering a measure to authorize casino gambling in the world’s third-largest economy and Asia’s second-largest. The bill, sponsored by the ruling Liberal Democratic Party and reportedly backed by Prime Minister Shinzo Abe, is expected to pass this year, paving the way for regulation and licensing. From there it’s expected that destination casinos will open in Tokyo and Osaka ahead of the 2020 Tokyo Summer Olympics, followed by a handful of smaller venues designed to provide an economic lift to struggling regional markets such as Okinawa and Hokkaido. Analysts’ estimates of the market potential range from $10 billion to $15 billion, which would catapult the country to the second-largest in gaming revenue in the world after Macau.
Based on its track record in Macau, Singapore and Las Vegas, LVS is expected to be a front-runner for a license among an A-list of global industry giants—Genting Group, MGM Resorts International, Galaxy Entertainment Group, Wynn Resorts, SJM Holdings, Melco Crown Entertainment and Caesars Entertainment among them.
The company has been scouting sites in Tokyo and Osaka, and at the conference Mr Adelson reiterated the company’s interest in building only in the two big cities. He said he wants to partner with risk-takers and would consider working with Masayoshi Son, founder and president of wireless carrier SoftBank.
Potential partners for casino operators include Mitsui & Co., Mitsubishi Corp., Itochu Corp. and gaming machine makers Sega Sammy Holdings, Konami and Dynam.
Sands plans to focus on Asia after recently abandoning a plan to develop a $30 billion mixed-use resort complex in Spain. Mr Adelson has not given up on Europe, though, and said he’s looking at an alternative resort model in Athens and other major cities. In the United States the company has its eyes on Miami and is lobbying Florida lawmakers to change state law to allow large-scale commercial casinos.
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