Las Vegas Sands Corp.’s properties include The Venetian and The Palazzo resorts and Sands Expo Center in Las Vegas, Sands Bethlehem in Pennsylvania and Marina Bay Sands in Singapore. Through majority ownership in Sands China Ltd., it owns properties on the Cotai Strip in Macao, including The Venetian Macao, The Plaza, Four Seasons Hotel Macao, Sands Cotai Central, The Parisian Macao and Sands Macao.
Company: Las Vegas Sands Corp. (NYSE: LVS)
Revenue: $2.97 billion compared to $2.89 billion for the third quarter 2015.
Income: $605.5 million, compared to income of $618.1 million in the third quarter 2015.
Earnings per share: $0.65, compared to earnings per share of $0.65 for the same quarter last year.
What it means: In an earnings call with gaming industry analysts to discuss third-quarter financial results, Las Vegas Sands CEO Sheldon Adelson kept using the phrase “critical mass.”
“The opening of Parisian Macau not only significantly enhanced critical mass on the Cotai strip but is another iconic must-see destination,” Adelson said.
By using the term, Adelson was making the point that the Parisian Macau, which opened in September and is the company’s fifth property in Macau and the fourth on the Cotai Peninsula area of Macau, had grown the market.
“There has been no noticeable cannibalization at existing properties after opening of the Parisian,” Adelson said. “My strategic vision was to create critical mass of connected resorts in Cotai.”
Sands President and COO Robert Goldstein, discussing the specifics of Parisian Macau’s customers, agreed that this critical mass had drawn new customers to the properties. “We are seeing a lot of new business, not database customer business, coming from mainland China,” Goldstein said.
Also discussed during the call — as it was during the Wynn Resorts earnings call — was the potential for legalized gaming in Japan. “What we’re hearing is it’s from 99 to 100 percent certain the bill will come up,” Adelson said. “But you’ve got to look at the bill itself.
“You’ve got to see what happens over the next year. So, are we there? We are there. We have people there. We have our head of Asian global development George Tanasijevich there quite frequently.
“I go, not frequently but not infrequently. I’m going again in a month or so. I’m going in December. We’ll see what the bill says when it passes.”
Adelson said that legalization of gambling in Japan could open other Asian opportunities.
“I’ve always stated, with people and businesses in Korea, that if Japan legalized it, Korea will do the same thing. I don’t know that for sure. That’s speculation.”