Macau casino concessionaire Sands China Ltd “has been revamping its marketing and player reinvestment to be more competitive in the market,” as well as to grow gross gaming revenue (GGR), earnings before interest, taxation, depreciation, and amortisation (EBITDA) and its share, both in terms of gross gaming revenue and EBITDA share.
That is according to Seaport Research Partners senior analyst Vitaly Umansky, citing Wednesday comment by Las Vegas Sands Corp’s management on the second day of the brokerage’s 2025 Seaport Annual Summer Conference.
Las Vegas Sands runs casino resorts in Macau via its Sands China unit, and the Marina Bay Sands property in Singapore, via its Marina Bay Sands Pte Ltd unit.
In May, Robert Goldstein, Las Vegas Sands’ chairman and chief executive, said the Macau operations had not been performing as expected, and admitted the group had not been aggressive enough on player reinvestment.
Mr Umansky observed that Sands China was “still in the early days of the revamped marketing effort”.
“Player reinvestment dollars will go up, but ratio to revenues may start coming down/holding steady from last quarter levels,” said the analyst, adding that the firm’s operational spending “should rise modestly quarter-on-quarter, [by a] low single digit percentage”.
He added that the group expects to “grow EBITDA sequentially,” noting that higher growth in the Macau market “may benefit Sands due to its large capacity in hotel rooms and gaming positions”.
Mr Umansky cited the casino group’s management as saying that return of capital “remains a priority”, with Sands China “likely raising dividends as business improves,” and hoping “to get to US$1.5 billion in Sands China dividends, with Las Vegas Sands receiving over 72 percent”.
Las Vegas Sands’ representatives also flagged that the parent may “continue to buy back some Sands China stock to increase its ownership”.
The casino firm’s management was quoted as saying that the Macau GGR growth rebound over the past few months was “driven by higher spend by wealthy Chinese, increased agency and junket business, more visitation and higher frequency”.
Casino GGR in July this year marked the best monthly performance since January 2020, just before the onset of the Covid-19 pandemic. It rose 19.0 percent year-on-year in July, standing at nearly MOP22.13 billion (US$2.75 billion), showed official data
“Growth is largely – not entirely – driven by higher ends of the market; day-tripper business is growing, but overnight base mass is still weak,” said Mr Umansky.
The rest of the year “looks good, with double-digit growth in GGR for the market possible,” he added.
The Seaport analyst also observed that the Marina Bay Sands complex in Singapore “continues to shine” in terms of business volumes.
“Normalised EBITDA will come down from second quarter, which was a very strong quarter,” he noted.
Mr Umansky added, citing Las Vegas Sands’s management: “Marina Bay Sands should be in the US$2.4 billion to US$2.5 billion EBITDA range and rise over the coming years. There is a deep high-end group of customers driving performance.”
Las Vegas Sands saw its second-quarter profit increase by 22.4 percent year-on-year, helped by Marina Bay Sands while Sands China net income was down.
In mid-July, the casino group broke ground for the second phase of the Marina Bay Sands complex. It is expected the expansion project will be completed by June 2030 and open in January 2031, according to corporate information.
