Sands China to create a little slice of London on Macau’s Cotai strip, as part of US$1.1b investment
Las Vegas casino giant’s move is latest effort by Macau firms to capture a growing share of big-spending Chinese tourists coming to the enclave
Las Vegas Sands, the American casino giant, is renovating and rebranding one of its major resorts in Macau – the Sands Cotai Central – into the “Londoner Macao”, as part of a US$1.1 billion, three-year investment.
The company owned by US billionaire Sheldon Adelson said Macau has a “tremendous future” as a leisure and tourism destination, in a report accompanying Sands’ third quarter results.
“We will invest over US$1.1 billion in new capital projects over the next three years in Macau, at Sands Cotai Central and the Four Seasons Hotel Macao,” Adelson said in a statement.
The US firm owns five casino properties in Macau through its subsidiary Sands China: the Venetian Macao, Sands Macao, The Plaza Macao, Sands Cotai Central, and the Parisian Macao.
The only legal place to gamble on Chinese soil, Macau’s gaming revenues started slipping badly in 2014, as President Xi Jinping’s sweeping anti-graft campaign put free-spending Chinese officials visiting the city under the spotlight, forcing many to stay away.
Adelson said the Macau market “continues to recover”.
