Availability of side bets in live-table baccarat in the Singapore and Macau operations of Las Vegas Sands Corp have moved baccarat from being “a boring game” with “no juice in it”, to being more analogous to sports betting with its proposition bets and side bets.
That is according to Rob Goldstein, chairman and chief executive of Las Vegas Sands. The group operates casinos in Macau via its Sands China Ltd unit, and the Marina Bay Sands property in Singapore via its Marina Bay Sands Pte Ltd subsidiary.
Mr Goldstein added that the introduction in both markets of ‘smart tables’ with their automated record-keeping and player-rating capacity had undoubtedly assisted operations. He was speaking on the parent’s Wednesday call to discuss its third-quarter earnings announced that day.
“What’s changed in baccarat is not the smart table, that’s the scorekeeper. What’s changed is the game itself,” via side bets, “offers a lot more opportunities to gamble different ways,” the CEO noted.
Mr Goldstein stated: “It’s analogous to sports betting and the side bets… the proposition bets.”
“This isn’t casual betters, this isn’t a sophisticated better, this is everybody gravitating towards side bets that are house advantaged,” he added.
Patrick Dumont, president and chief operating officer of Las Vegas Sands, also stated on the call: “Credit to our gaming innovation team for their willingness to really look at the customer experience and add the opportunity to enhance that experience through some higher volatility bets, which the customers are actually using.
“They could choose not to use them, but they seem to be very popular. They create a better gaming experience and better enjoyment in the game.”
Grant Chum, CEO and president at Sands China, stated on the call that the side bet mix in Macau was “smaller than in Singapore, but it’s also rising, and it has contributed to enhance the house edge over the past several years”.
Mr Dumont added regarding the side bets option: “If it’s not something that’s preferred by the players, eventually it evolves itself out of the game. And we’ve had a lot of different iterations of what’s on the felt.”
Management was also asked on the call about an event outside the third quarter: pre-season games of two National Basketball Association (NBA) teams a fortnight ago at Sands China’s Venetian Arena.
Mr Dumont said that, in terms of the NBA gathering’s impact on Sands China’s gaming and entertainment business, “we’ll talk about it at the end of this quarter, [when] we’ll have better data”.
Though he added: “I think overall it was a very strong success, [we’re] very happy with the results. I think the marketing value created for us was also very strong.”
The company was also asked on the call whether it was considering investment either in the United Arab Emirates – where Wynn Resorts Ltd is building a casino complex – or thinking about looking again at Japan – where MGM Resorts is building MGM Osaka – and where the country has a new prime minister and a new tourism minister with a track record of supporting the integrated resort (IR) policy.
Mr Dumont said the company was monitoring both markets, but had no active plans for either.
He stated: “Our strategic priority is to deploy capital in high-growth projects. And we’re always looking at those opportunities and always evaluating them to see if the returns are there with the appropriate factor of safety.”
The COO added: “We’re very patient and we’re constantly looking, and we’ll see what opportunities arise. But as of right now, there’s nothing really to report.”
