Patrick Dumont, president and chief operating officer of Las Vegas Sands Corp, says that while the fourth quarter of 2025 “may not have produced the results” that the group expected in terms of Macau earnings before interest, taxation, depreciation and amortisation (EBITDA), the company is seeing “growth, better market positioning, revenue share growth,” and is “heading in the right direction”.
He was speaking on a Wednesday call to discuss its fourth-quarter earnings announced that day.
The group’s Macau unit, Sands China Ltd, reported adjusted property EBITDA of US$608 million for the three months to December 31, up 6.5 percent from the prior-year period.
Sands China runs five casino properties in Macau, including The Venetian Macao (pictured). The casino operator is currently going through a revamp in its marketing programme, which started during the second quarter of 2025.
“We’ve made a lot of changes over the last couple quarters, both in our approach to the customer, how we think about service levels,” Mr Dumont stated.
“I think we’re really focused on both growing revenue and EBITDA … we’ve made some great progress this [fourth] quarter,” he added.
The executive also said the group had “success in both rolling and non-rolling”.
“We’re sort of working through some of the changes that we’ve made, and I think the trajectory is heading in the right direction,” Mr Dumont said.
He added: “While this quarter may not have produced the results that we want on an EBITDA basis, we see growth, we see better market positioning, we see revenue share growth, and we’re heading in the right direction.”
The group COO also said the Macau unit was “being very competitive” in the market, and “seeing the results related to our positioning”.
Margins and reinvestment
On the call, Grant Chum, chief executive and president at Sands China, also said promotional competition in Macau “remains intense, especially in the premium segment,” which is said to be driving growth in the market.
“That said, I think we are at a more stable level now … and we could see that progressively in the fourth quarter,” Mr Chum stated.
“We are stabilising at the current levels, at least for our portfolio, and we’re hoping to find some headroom to optimise on the reinvestment front into 2026,” he added.
Mr Chum also commented on the sequential decline in operating margin, recalling that Sands China had “higher reinvestment” in the fourth quarter, chiefly because of the staging of preseason games for the National Basketball Association (NBA) in mid-October. The company also had higher operating spending, due to “higher payroll … as a result of us increasing our operating table hour capacity [during the quarter],” said the Sands China’s CEO.
Mr Chum said that Sands China had “more rolling business as a proportion of our total gaming,” while its non-rolling was “dominated by the super high end on the premium mass”.
“We are committed strategically to grow in every single segment that’s available to us,” he added. “In the fourth quarter, you can see that we’ve had a pretty significant … increase in our rolling volumes, up 60 percent against the prior year”.
The CEO noted: “I think that reflects a few strategies that we’ve put in place. Number one, we’ve adjusted some of our commercial programmes in that segment.
“Number two, we’ve been very successful in attracting foreign play out of the rest of the Asian markets in the rolling segment. Number three, partly reflects the strong market in that super high-end segment.”
Mr Chum however noted that the rolling segment was a “much lower margin than the other segments, but still a profitable segment on an absolute growth dollar basis”.
“2026 I think is going to be a year where we sustain our revenue growth against the market, and then hopefully convert more of that into EBITDA,” he added.
Wednesday’s call also marked the farewell of Rob Goldstein, chairman and chief executive of Las Vegas Sands, who is set to retire on March 1, 2026. Mr Dumont is set to assume the roles of group chairman and CEO.
