Inside Asian Gaming

December 2014 inside asian gaming 25 Sands China’s casino business with pre-tax earnings up 19% year on year and 40% quarter on quarter. Viewed on a trailing 12-month basis, which provides a better picture of the sector’s staying power, revenue rose 20% from a year earlier. Same-store sales per square foot were up 13.9% to $2,289. Occupancy at the end of the quarter was 96.6%, up from 94.5% a year earlier, despite leasable area increasing by 11.3%. BUY SIGNS Sands China is the only gaming operator that breaks out its Macau retail figures, and it’s currently the only one with scale in retail. The three Cotai malls, linked by footbridges, measure a combined 1.6 million square feet and include more than 600 shops. Melco Crown Entertainment’s City of Dreams has 176,000 square feet of retail space and 70 outlets. Galaxy Entertainment’s Galaxy Macau has 40 shops covering 375,000 square feet. On the peninsula, Wynn Macau has 57,000 square feet of retail space with about two dozen shops. The One Central commercial and residential complex adjoining MGM Macau has around 50 shops covering approximately 200,000 square feet. MGM has no interest in One Central, but their proximity to each other is no coincidence. Pansy Ho, co-chair of parent MGM China Holdings and its largest individual shareholder, is a partner in One Central through her Hong Kong-based Shun Tak conglomerate, and the two are linked by direct indoor access. SJM Holdings’ renovated Jai Alai casino near the city’s Outer Harbour and the ferry link with Hong Kong will include retail when it reopens, although the company says it plans to contract it out. Across town, at SJM’s 51%-owned Ponte 16 casino hotel on the Inner Harbour, plans for a waterfront shopping arcade are currently under government review. All six gaming operators plan to introduce or significantly increase the retail offerings of their Cotai resorts. Details for most remain under wraps, but the 2015 openings of the first two—Galaxy Macau Phase 2 and Melco Crown’s Studio City—should provide an interesting glimpse. Galaxy says its $2.5 billion Phase 2 will expand the resort’s total retail area to more than 1 million square feet encompassing both luxury and middle-market brands. “Retail is definitely important to us In Focus >> Shoppes at Venetian Macao Wynn Macau has 57,000 square feet of retail space with about two dozen shops. The One Central commercial and residential complex adjoining MGM Macau has around 50 shops covering approximately 200,000 square feet.