The chairman and chief executive of the parent firm of Macau casino operator Sands China Ltd said on Wednesday he was “disappointed” about the pace of recovery in the Macau gaming market, but understood the Macau and mainland China authorities had opted for a safety-first approach amid the Covid-19 pandemic.
Robert Goldstein (pictured, top left), boss of United States-based Las Vegas Sands Corp (LVS), was speaking during the Bernstein Annual Strategic Decisions Conference, in a session held online and hosted by Sanford C. Bernstein Ltd analyst Vitaly Umansky (pictured, top right).
Mr Goldstein stated regarding the pace of Macau’s rebound: “We are disappointed… we were hoping for a quicker recovery”. But the Las Vegas Sands executive added he understood that the authorities in Macau and the mainland were “very cautious” on travel easing, as they had a “zero-tolerance policy” toward Covid-19.
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A number of casino industry equipment suppliers say they have observed a trend of casino players in Asia shifting their interest from traditional live-dealer tables to electronic table games (ETGs) amid the pandemic.
Possible factors include the relative ease of cleaning ETG play surfaces, and the ease of maintaining social distancing rules by keeping alternate ETG terminals switched off. A number of Asian casino operators has reported on the challenges posed by getting players at live-dealer tables to adhere to social distancing rules.
Jim Preston, product director of electronic table systems – Australasia at Scientific Games Corp, suggested in the firm’s recent online event for its customers, SG Asia Summit, there were signs of players having “moved across from live tables to the ETGs”.
Initial flights under the Hong Kong-Singapore air travel bubble – due to start on May 26 – are “fully booked” due to strong demand from “business travellers” and those making trips to visit relatives, said Jason Wong Chun-tat, chairman of the Travel Industry Council of Hong Kong, on a commercial radio programme broadcast on Sunday.
“There are plenty of business travellers and people visiting their relatives,” he stated.
Singapore (pictured) is home to two casino resorts: Resorts World Sentosa, run by Genting Singapore Ltd; and Marina Bay Sands, run by a unit of United States-based Las Vegas Sands Corp; the latter also the parent of Macau operator Sands China Ltd. Investment analysts have said Singapore’s casinos need to see a return of inbound foreign tourism to the city-state in order to thrive.
The Londoner Macao – a revamped and rebranded Cotai casino property that had its first-phase launch on Monday, just ahead of Chinese New Year – is designed to bring new customers to the Macau gaming-resort market, rather than eat into the share of consumers that already come to the city, said Wilfred Wong Ying Wai (pictured), president of the venue’s promoter, Sands China Ltd.
A “soft opening” – over the Christmas and calendar-new-year period – of the Londoner Macao, a British-themed resort, indicated it appealed to tourists that might not otherwise visit Macau, Mr Wong told reporters on the sidelines of the launch.
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