“We think we’re in very early innings of the Marina Bay Sands story,” Las Vegas Sands (LVS) chairman and CEO Patrick Dumont said, pointing to wealth creation across Southeast Asia and the Singapore integrated resort’s planned expansion in early 2031.
Speaking during the group’s second-quarter earnings call, Dumont said Singapore continued to attract high-value tourists, including a growing number of successful young entrepreneurs.
“There is a huge amount of foreign direct investment, there is a huge amount of wealth creation, and there are a lot of young people who are becoming very successful as entrepreneurs,” he said.
Dumont said Marina Bay Sands (MBS) also benefited from Singapore’s position as a center for trade, business and meetings, incentives, conferences and exhibitions (MICE). High-net-worth business travelers could attend events at the property before returning as leisure customers, he added.
LVS previously increased the resort’s suite inventory from 135 to 770 by converting conventional hotel rooms, a change Dumont described as a “step function” in its growth. The group also upgraded its food and beverage offerings, casino-floor service and premium customer experience.
The Marina Bay Sands expansion remains on track to open in early 2031, subject to government approvals.
“The expansion will meaningfully increase our premium suite capacity, service and entertainment offerings,” Dumont said. The project will include a new arena that LVS envisions as “the finest in Asia.”
The FIFA World Cup reduced visits by high-value customers to both Marina Bay Sands and LVS’s Macau properties, with management saying the impact was particularly noticeable in June.
In Macau, Sands China president and CEO Grant Chum said May marked an all-time monthly high for the operator’s mass-market gross gaming revenue before business softened in June, partly because of the tournament.
Dumont said LVS could not quantify the impact in either market, noting that “we just had a lot of people who weren’t there.” It was too early to assess any rebound because the tournament had ended only days before the earnings call, he added.
Overall, Marina Bay Sands remained strong in the second quarter, although adjusted property EBITDA fell 10.3 percent year-on-year to $689 million as mass gaming revenue rose 5 percent.
