Sands China, the local subsidiary of global gaming giant Las Vegas Sands, will invest “a lot more” into Macau than pledged under its new 10-year concession contract, the company’s Chairman and CEO, Robert Goldstein, has revealed.
Goldstein was speaking with US business media outlet CNBC ahead of last week’s launch of The Londoner Macao – a US$2 billion transformation of the former Sands Cotai Central. Sands China has also pledged to spend another MOP$30.2 billion (US$3.8 billion) during its current concession contract, of which MOP$27.8 billion (US$3.5 billion), around 92%, is planned to be in non-gaming initiatives.
Asked in a lengthy interview with CNBC to explain some of the company’s planned non-gaming investments, Goldstein replied, “It’s irrelevant because we pledged what we pledged, but we’re going to spend much more than that.
“This idea that we pledged US$3 billion or US$4 billion is irrelevant because we are going to spend a lot more than that in Macau if we are able to. We are here for the long-haul and we’ve always been a believer in this market. Our actions speak very loudly.
“We invested billions in this market in 2019 when everyone said you can’t invest before the licenses are renewed. Sheldon [Adelson, the late founder of Las Vegas Sands] never worried about that. He said ‘We’ll be fine in Macau for years to come’ and we were.
“All these doom and gloom forecasts about what was going to happen to the licensing process ended up being nonsense. We have a 10-year license and we hope to be here for many years beyond that and we’ll invest heavily beyond our commitment to the government.
“Given the approval we’ll build more buildings here and more non-gaming amenities. The fact that we’re sitting in Cotai is due to Sheldon’s vision of building huge scale resorts.”
Goldstein also offered his observations on the changing face of the Macau market, including his belief that gaming revenues are unlikely to return to pre-COVID levels following the collapse of the junket industry.
“Pre-pandemic we had a very large junket segment, which is now gone, but that segment created very high numbers in terms of revenues although less success in terms of bottom line and EBITDA income,” he said.
“We live in a new world today. I don’t know if we’ll reach the same levels of top-line [revenue] but I think we can exceed the EBITDA numbers of 2019. I don’t know if that will happen in 2023 or 2024 or 2025, I don’t have a crystal ball, all I know is the trajectory right now for profitability and revenues is through the roof and everyone is happy with the numbers.
“The May numbers will come out [this week] and I assume they’ll be the highest numbers since we reopened. We believe in the quality of product, our people, our hospitality to drive our business and we’re very, very comfortable where we will end up in Macau in the long-term.
“But will it be in July? This idea of predicting definite timing is unnecessary. We know we’ll get there – the road is clear.”
