Inside Asian Gaming

IAG JAPAN FEB 2021 34 a raid nabbed dozens of prostitutes at The Venetian Macao while Adelson was visiting the property. Efforts to recover the lots at the south end of Cotai’smain spine, on which LVS claims it spent more than US$100 million on site preparation, proved unsuccessful. Eventually, relations warmed between Adelson and Chui, who received his PhD in the US. At the opening of Sands Cotai Central in 2012, Chui and Adelson chatted amiably on stage. The US$4.4 billion project on Lots 5 and 6 included another 300 serviced apartments, units Adelson aimed to sell under the St Regis brand. In 2013, the government granted Sands China permission to sell the Four Season apartments if buyers purchased shares in the building’s corporate owner rather than a physical unit. The agreement required licensing by the Macau Government Tourist Office, government approval of each sale and reserving some units for walk-in guests. Analysts estimated unit sale revenue upwards of US$700 million. But for more than four years, no sales were reported. In October 2017, Sands China announced it would convert Sands Cotai Central into The Londoner Macao, a themed resort based on the British capital, the centerpiece of a US$2.2 billion capital investment program. Changes include converting the Four Seasons and St Regis serviced apartments into hotel suites, ending the quest to sell the units. It seems that after more than 15 years in Macau, Adelson had begun to understand Asia. the way for casino licensees to dominate retail, so the one major segment where Macau’s elite can still reap large-scale profits handsomely is property. Moreover, for many Macau families, home ownership represents their main asset. Keeping casinos out of the residential property market mattered to key Macau constituencies. Weeks after the Four Seasons opening, the global economic crisis threatened LVS with bankruptcy. Frozen credit markets meant LVS couldn’t borrow to continue building on Cotai Lots 5 and 6, so it stopped construction, idling thousandsof constructionworkers. Global turmoil coincided with mainland restrictions on visas to Macau, slowing casino revenue and hiring. That combination created the first hard times in Macau since Sands Macao’s 2004 opening. Residents particularly noticed local layoffs while LVS continued building Singapore’s Marina Bay Sands, which, unlike the Macau project, had been fully financed in advance. NO DEAL In June 2010, Adelson recounted that former Macau Chief Executive Edmund Ho had agreed to let LVS sell the Four Seasons apartments if LVS floated its Sands China subsidiary on the Hong Kong stock market and restarted work on Lots 5 and 6 – conditions met by November 2009 – but Ho’s successor Fernando Chui said no to the deal. Chui’s government responded by canceling the provisional grant of Cotai Lots 7 and 8 to Sands. Then 資産を意味している。カジノを住宅不動産市場から締め出しておく ことが、マカオの主要選挙区とって大きな問題だった。 フォーシーズンズのオープンから数週間後、世界的な金融危機 によってLVSは破産のリスクに直面した。信用市場の凍結は、LVSが コタイの第5-6区画での建設を続けるための資金を借りられなくな ったことを意味しており、建設が停止したことで、何千人もの建設 作業員が暇をもてあますことになった。世界的な混乱と、本土によ るマカオへのビザ制限の時期が重なったことで、カジノ収益と雇用 が鈍化した。それらの組み合わせがマカオにとってサンズ・マカオの 2004年のオープン以降で初めて厳しい時代を作り出した。特に、住 民が現地労働者の解雇を気にかけている一方で、LVSはシンガポー ルのマリーナベイ・サンズの建設を継続していた。マカオのプロジェ クトとは異なり、こちらは前もって全額資金調達されていた。 取引不成立 2010年6月、アデルソン氏は、LVSがその子会社であるサンズ・チ ャイナを香港証券取引所に上場させ、第5-6区画の工事を再開す れば、LVSにフォーシーズンズのアパート販売させることにマカオ の何厚鏵(Edmund Ho)元行政長官が同意したと話した。その条 件は2009年11月に満たされたものの、何氏の後任である崔世安 (Fernando Chui)行政長官は、その取引を拒否した。崔政府はコタ イの第7-8区画をサンズに暫定的に与えることを中止することで対 応した。その後、アデルソン氏が施設を訪れている際に行われた警 察の強制捜査によって、ザ・ベネチアン・マカオで何十人もの売春 COVER STORY