GGRAsia – Adelson says Singapore expansion talks ‘preliminary’

Adelson says Singapore expansion talks ‘preliminary’

Jun 04, 2016 Newsdesk Latest News, Singapore, Top of the deck

Casino operator Las Vegas Sands Corp (LVS) says its idea of building an entertainment arena in Singapore – along with a new hotel tower of approximately 1,000 rooms at its Marina Bay Sands resort – is at a “preliminary and confidential” stage.

The firm added – in a statement sent to GGRAsia – that currently there is no timetable or budget for the project.

The firm’s chairman and chief executive Sheldon Adelson (pictured) had mentioned the potential projects in comments on Wednesday in New York during ‘Bernstein’s 32nd Annual Strategic Decisions Conference 2016’, held under the AllianceBernstein LP branding.

Las Vegas Sands sent GGRAsia the following update from Mr Adelson regarding the group’s ideas for Singapore: “We have been honoured to be part of the dramatic tourism expansion in Singapore that our iconic Marina Bay Sands has helped develop.

“As we look to expand upon the success of our relationship with the Singapore government, we proposed to build an iconic venue for entertainment and another hotel tower. This was and is our proposal to the government for land use that we are seeking and not something they asked us to do.”

Mr Adelson further stated: “Our discussions are preliminary and confidential but I will clarify that we have had no timetable or pricing discussions to this point. I apologise if there has been any confusion on these points. The government of Singapore speaks for itself and they have not expressed a view on this proposal.”

In his Wednesday comments, Mr Adelson had said that “they [the Singapore authorities] want an arena,” in order to bring a greater range of events to the local market.

(Updated at 2.05pm, June 4)