Casino Resorts Look to Diversify Asia Growth Beyond Macau
Skift Take
MGM Resorts International and Las Vegas Sands aren’t writing off Macau, but they also aren’t solely focusing on China’s gaming hotspot for growth in Asia.
Early Check-In
Editor’s Note: Skift Senior Hospitality Editor Sean O’Neill brings readers exclusive reporting and insights into hotel deals and development, and how those trends are making an impact across the travel industry.The CEOs of several U.S.-based casino resort companies shifted tones in recent weeks in a sign they aren’t putting all their eggs in one basket when it comes to Asia.
The Chinese special administrative region of Macau overtook Las Vegas as the world’s largest casino gaming market in terms of revenue in 2006. Major American casino resort companies like MGM Resorts, Las Vegas Sands, and Wynn Resorts have all pumped billions into developing mega-resorts in the city to appeal to the highly lucrative Asian casino business. Las Vegas Sands’ $6.25 billion Venetian and Sands Expo and Convention Center sale in Nevada is to focus on growth in Asian markets like Macau.
But a string of pandemic setbacks in the region appears to have many of these companies looking elsewhere in Asia for a growth story to tell amid China’s more stringent coronavirus mitigation policies.
“It's impossible in Macau to rationally predict anything until the government makes decisions on the visitation,” Las Vegas Sands CEO Rob Goldstein said on an investor call last month. “It'd be silly for us to speculate something that's so speculative.”
Goldstein later added a note of confidence, saying Macau will “explode when it opens back up again” likely in the second half of this year. But earnings calls and recent development announcements have moved away from just hyping growth in Macau. Goldstein led the call by announcing a
