Sands Corp. opens Cotai Central final piece; Adelson predicts Macau turnaround
Las Vegas Sands Corp. opened the last piece of the Sands Cotai Central development in Macau on Friday, and the company's top executive — despite 18 straight months of the market's declining gaming revenue — said the region has nearly bottomed out.
During a celebration surrounding the opening of the $450 million, 400-room St. Regis hotel, Las Vegas Sands Chairman and CEO Sheldon Adelson said the Macau gaming market will turn around in 2016.
"We are at the beginning of the shift in the cycle from a recession-type economy to a bottoming out, and I think the economy and Macau's fortunes will turn around," Adelson, 82, said at a news conference.
Cotai Central includes multiple hotels with 6,200 rooms connected to casinos, retail and dining malls and a convention complex.
Las Vegas Sands will open the $2.7 billion Parisian with 2,700 hotel rooms next year. In total, including the Venetian Macau, Sands Macau and Cotai Central, the company will operate more than 13,000 hotel rooms in Macau.
Las Vegas Sands is asking for 450 table games at Parisian, but Adelson acknowledged that no casino will get the number requested. Adelson said he expects to be treated fairly by the Macau government.
The two other resorts to open in Macau this year, Phase 2 of the Galaxy Macau and Melco Crown's City of Dreams, each received 250 tables after asking for more than 400.
Wynn Resorts Ltd. Chairman Steve Wynn has called the table game limits "the single most counterintuitive and irrational decision that was ever made."
Wynn and MGM Resorts International also are adding resorts to Macau's market next year.
Macau has been in a free fall since last year, primarily because of the Chinese government's crackdown on corruption that ensnared operators of junket businesses tasked with bringing high-end gamblers to Macau casinos' private gambling salons. In October, the Chinese government indicated it would help boost Macau's economy but didn't offer any details.
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Contact reporter Howard Stutz at hstutz@reviewjournal.com or 702-477-3871. Find @howardstutz on Twitter.
