Inside Asian Gaming

October 2010 | INSIDE ASIAN GAMING 45 Briefs the projects dried up and LVS was forced to restructure its corporate finances. The company plans to open 6,400 additional hotel rooms in the next two years under the Shangri-La, Traders, Sheraton, Sheraton Towers and St. Regis brands, adding additional convention and casino space. In April, LVS opened the US$5.7 billion Marina Bay Sands in Singapore. Adelson has predicted the hotel-casino, one of just two resorts in Singapore, could realize annual cash flows of more than US$1 billion. Marina Bay Sands collected US$216.4 million in revenue during the second quarter. Last year, LVS listed a portion of its Macau casinos on the Hong Kong Stock Exchange. Speaking at the CLSA Investors’ Conference in Hong Kong, Mr Adelson said he plans to keep his Hong Kong-listed Sands China and LVS, listed publicly on the New York Stock Exchange, separate. “I want Sands China to be as successful as Las Vegas Sands is,”Mr Adelson said, according to Dow Jones . “No bank or any investor has ever complained that I’ve cannibalized, that I’ve shifted profits from one to the other.” A corporate name change by LVS would not be unprecedented. In June, shareholders of MGM Resorts International approved a name change fromMGMMirage to reflect its presence in developing luxury non-gaming hotels outside of the United States, including Dubai, Vietnam, Abu Dhabi, Egypt and China, that are expected to open starting next year through 2013. In April, Wynn Resorts Ltd Chairman SteveWynn told Hong Kong media that he was considering moving his company’s corporate headquarters from Las Vegas to Macau. He tempered the remarks a few weeks later when he told investors he would spend more time in Macau and build a secondary corporate headquarters at a new resort being planned for the Cotai Strip. Sands confident it can hold on to Macau sites The Las Vegas Review-Journal reported Las Vegas Sands Corp (LVS) is confident SJM Holdings will not be able to wrest control of two of LVS’s development sites on Macau’s Cotai Strip. Although LVS has not moved forward with development plans for the two sites (Cotai sites 7 and 8), it has spent US$102.3million on site preparations, according to a 30th June financial statement. Hong Kong-listed SJM had asked the Macau government for permission to take over sites 7 and 8. SJM, which has 18 casinos in Macau, is controlled by 88-year-old billionaire Stanley Ho, whose held a 40-year monopoly to operate gaming in Macau until 2002. LVS President Michael Leven said in a statement last month: “there is no reason to believe that a subsequent application by any third party will take precedence” over LVS’ rights to develop sites 7 and 8. Mr Leven said the company had previously submitted a detailed development application to the Macau government detailing plans for the two sites. “Subsequent to that application, we have obtained site investigation and consolidation licenses from the (Macau) government, which authorized us to enter the site and carry out the substantial works that have to date been completed, “ Mr Leven said. Earlier this year, Macau’s newly appointed chief executive said the government might seek to reclaim land promised to casino operators, especially if the operators were delaying development of their allotted sites, with the sites being used for other development purposes. Mr Leven said LVS is not fearful of the sites being taken away. “Our consultants have continued to pursue the development application in a timely manner,”Mr Leven said. “We have received no indication from any relevant department that our applications are not proceeding in the usual course.” JP Morgan gaming analyst Joe Greff told investors he didn’t believe the Macau government would take the sites from LVS. “That said, we do believe the government is working with SJM and the other concessionaires so that each has a presence on the Cotai Strip,” Greff said in a research note. SJM’s current 18 casinos include small slot parlors and small casinos operating on the Macau peninsula. The company’s flagship casino is the 500-room Grand Lisboa. SJM does not have a casino on Cotai. Genting to be King of Queens A casino to be built in New York City by a subsidiary of the MalaysianconglomerateGentingcouldcontributetoafurtherdecline in Atlantic City’s casino revenues says Union Gaming Research. Genting New York LLC has received approval to build a casino stocked with more than 4,500 video lottery terminals at Aqueduct Racetrack in the NYC borough of Queens, only 120 miles from Atlantic City. According to the New York Racing Association, the operator of equestrian events at Aqueduct, Genting thinks it could generate US$650 million in gross gaming revenues annually from its casino licence, which will run for 30 years. Genting has already paid New York State a permit fee of US$380 million–26% more than the state’s standard non-refundable gaming licence says Union Gaming Research. Genting will spend a further US$1.3 billion to build the property, which will be known as Resorts World New York, adds the research house. Union Gaming points out however that the project could be delayed by litigation from other unsuccessful bidders for the Aqueduct site. The Aqueduct Racetrack in Queens, New York