{"id":32005,"date":"2022-07-22T03:48:43","date_gmt":"2022-07-22T06:48:43","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/focusgn.com\/asia-pacific\/?p=32005"},"modified":"2026-04-23T06:37:59","modified_gmt":"2026-04-23T09:37:59","slug":"sands-china-could-benefit-from-withdrawal-of-junket-operations","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/focusgn.com\/asia-pacific\/sands-china-could-benefit-from-withdrawal-of-junket-operations","title":{"rendered":"Sands China could benefit from withdrawal of junket operations"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Las Vegas Sands’ CEO has said that the withdrawal of junket operations in Macau could be an opportunity for Sands China to grow its margins in the casino business.<\/p>\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n

Macau.- Las Vegas Sands CEO Robert Goldstein<\/strong> has suggested that the withdrawal of junket operations in Macau could be an opportunity for the company\u2019s subsidiary Sands China to\u00a0increase profit margins<\/strong>\u00a0in its casino operations. While sharing financial results for the second quarter<\/a>, he noted that the company could now divert VIP gaming space to other needs.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Goldstein stated: \u201cThe junket business \u2013 we always knew it \u2013 is a margin-challenged business. I feel grateful we have all this new space coming back to us that we can redeploy. I think it adds all kinds of premium opportunities for base mass, premium mass and direct premium as well. To me, it\u2019s a very valuable transition to a higher focus margin business\u201d.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In December, several casino operators, including Las Vegas Sands<\/a>, ended agreements with their primary VIP gaming promoters. The sector has been in crisis after the arrests of Alvin Chau<\/a> and Levo Chan Weng Lin<\/a>, the heads of Suncity Group Holdings <\/strong>and Tak Chun Group<\/strong>, two of the city\u2019s largest junket groups.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The number of junket operators has been falling each year from 235 in 2013 to a reported 46 junket licences<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Praises to the gaming concession tender process<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

Goldstein also referred to the bidding process for Macau’s casino concessions and praised the way the Macau government has handled it. Earlier this month,\u00a0authorities published the framework<\/a>\u00a0for the retender of the city\u2019s gaming licences including the criteria and procedures for the process.\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The new gaming legislation allows up to six gaming concessions<\/a> \u2013 equal to the current number \u2013 with a length of 10 years. Casino operators must have a registered capital of at least MOP5bn while their licences are valid. The concessionaire and anyone holding more than 5 per cent of the operator\u2019s shares must not own, directly or indirectly, the capital of another concessionaire.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Las Vegas Sands’ CEO has said that the withdrawal of junket operations in Macau could be an opportunity for Sands China to grow its margins in the casino business.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":176,"featured_media":26697,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"is_press_release":false,"is_interview":false,"is_opinion":false,"focusai_summary":"Las Vegas Sands' CEO, Robert Goldstein, views the withdrawal of junket operations in Macau as a significant opportunity for Sands China to enhance profit margins by reallocating VIP gaming space to higher-margin premium mass and direct premium segments. This strategic shift follows a crisis in the junket sector and coincides with Macau's new gaming concession tender process, which introduces stringent licensing criteria and capital requirements for operators.","focusai_entities":"Las Vegas Sands, Sands China, Robert Goldstein, Suncity Group Holdings, Tak Chun Group, Alvin Chau, Levo Chan Weng Lin","focusai_location":"Macau","focusai_target_profile":"ceo_executive (0.95), regulator (0.9), compliance_legal (0.85), operator_casino (0.98), investor_analyst (0.97), journalist_researcher (0.9)","focusai_suggestions":[{"label":"Margin Impact Analysis","query":"What is the projected timeline and magnitude of margin improvement for Sands China as it reallocates former VIP junket space to direct premium and mass segments, considering potential cannibalization or market saturation?"},{"label":"Concession Tender Risks","query":"Beyond the MOP5bn capital requirement and cross-ownership restrictions, what are the primary unstated risks or competitive disadvantages for incumbent operators in Macau's new gaming concession tender process?"}],"footnotes":""},"categories":[157,16338,158],"tags":[1642,21680],"class_list":["post-32005","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-business-news","category-east-asia-news","category-slider-home","tag-las-vegas-sands","tag-sands-china"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/focusgn.com\/asia-pacific\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/32005","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/focusgn.com\/asia-pacific\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/focusgn.com\/asia-pacific\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/focusgn.com\/asia-pacific\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/176"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/focusgn.com\/asia-pacific\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=32005"}],"version-history":[{"count":5,"href":"https:\/\/focusgn.com\/asia-pacific\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/32005\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":32036,"href":"https:\/\/focusgn.com\/asia-pacific\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/32005\/revisions\/32036"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/focusgn.com\/asia-pacific\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/26697"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/focusgn.com\/asia-pacific\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=32005"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/focusgn.com\/asia-pacific\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=32005"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/focusgn.com\/asia-pacific\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=32005"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}