33 reviews of Marina Bay Sands Casino 'I prefer this casino than the other one in Singapore, it had all the glitz of Vegas. Smoking is allow on the main hall, with Live Band and some eateries to ease the hunger inbetween games. Free drinks at the corner and water from the trolley ladies.' The Marina Bay Sands (abbreviation: MBS) is an integrated resort fronting Marina Bay within the Downtown Core district of Singapore.At its opening in 2010, it was billed as the world's most expensive standalone casino property at S$8 billion (US$6.88 billion), including the land cost. It is also set to invest at least $3.3 billion into expanding its Marina Bay Sands property as part of an agreement with Singapore’s government announced last year. Sands rival Genting Group, which operates Singapore’s other integrated casino resort, Resorts World Sentosa, committed to the same investment.
Singapore’s Marina Bay Sands was named the world’s most profitable casino recently, but Motley Fool’s Travis Hoium predicted the Las Vegas Sands casino’s best days might be behind it. Hoium claimed business is starting to slow down at Marina Bay, which opened in 2010 and cost $8 billion to develop.
Las Vegas Sands derives a third of its earnings ($1.5b) before interest, tax, depreciation and amortization (EBITDA) from Marina Bay Sands. That might be a bad sign for LVS, because Marina Bay’s EBITDA has stagnated in recent years — and even regressed in some cases.
The reason is increased competition in the Asian casino market. Cambodia is now home to nearly 150 casinos. While most are still relatively small operations, one city on the coast of the Southeast Asian country is now known as the Cambodian Macau.
Vietnam liberalized its casino industry and is in the midst of a resort-building boom. Casinos have appeared on the border between India and Nepal. China is considering opening Hainan Island to casino gaming. Meanwhile, the Philippines continues to build new casinos and Japan is on the brink of approving threat mega-resorts.
Marina Bay Sands Tops in 2018
With growing competition, it is hard to see Marina Bay Sands continuing to grow. Much of the astounding profits from Singapore’s two casinos — Resorts World Sentosa and Marina Bay Sands — came from the relative lack of competition.
Travis Hoium of The Fool wrote, “In every quarter in 2018 we see VIP play on the decline, and in three of four quarters mass market play fell versus a year ago. The drop in play isn’t reflected in the EBITDA numbers…because 2018 has been an unusually lucky year for Marina Bay Sands.”
“The first quarter in particular saw the casino win almost 50 percent more than normal luck would expect. Without that lucky quarter, results would likely show a decline in EBITDA shaping up.”
2020’s Less Promising for Marina Bay
In short, 2018 is unlikely to be reproduced. The Fool pointed out that VIP numbers are going down throughout the region. As China’s economy slows, Chinese high rollers appear to be spending less on their gaming excursions. VIPs continue to visit Asian, Oceanian, and Australian casinos, but they simply do not splurge like they once did.
China’s economy is so large these days, its slowdown is likely to have a regional effect. Many of Asian economies — including Singapore’s — are so tied to Chinese prosperity that any major decline would have a ripple effect. Where once it was the United States which produced recessions for the world, the day might be approaching when China can produce the same.
Singapore: Two-Saloon Town
Marina Bay Sands is unlikely to have new competition in Singapore anytime soon. The sheer cost of building a rival is too much for most competitors. The $8 billion cost made Marina Bay Sands “one of the world’s most challenging construction projects and certainly the most expensive stand-alone integrated resort property ever built.”
When the casino opened, it had 500,000 visitors in the first six months alone. Hoium described LVS’s integrated resort as “likely the most profitable resort and casino in the history of the gaming industry.”
Only Genting Group, the owners of Resorts World Sentosa, could compete on such a grand scale.
Sheldon Adelson’s Cancer Battle
Las Vegas Sands is facing a serious issue of an entirely different nature: CEO Sheldon Adelson is battling non-Hodgkin Lymphoma. A cancer battle is never a good thing, but it is particularly problematic for a 85-year old who has shown signs of declining health in recent years.
Sheldon Adelson was supposed to give testimony during a Las Vegas lawsuit this week, but his lawyer said he could not attend due to lingering effects of cancer treatments. It led to a wave of speculation that Adelson had not handling duties for Las Vegas Sands in two-and-a-half months, which itself required a press release by LVS to contradict those rumors.
Some speculated Adelson’s ailments were played up for the Nevada judge, so the octogenarian did not have to testify in court. Those rumors were belied by the fact LVS issued a statement that its CEO and founder was well enough to handle day-to-day business. Those reports were further undermined when Las Vegas Sands came to a settlement with Richard Suen after 15 long years of court battles. Terms of the settlement were not released, but an SEC filing showed the deal was complete.
Dispute over unauthorized transactions
A lawsuit between a former customer and the Marina Bay Sands over non-authorized transactions from 2015 has now been settled, with the casino agreeing pay US$6.5m (S$9.1m).
the casino moved money to other gamblers from his account
Wang Xi filed the lawsuit last year, claiming that the casino moved money to other gamblers from his account. Mr. Wang said that he never gave the casino permission to make the transactions.
Signature “copied and pasted”
Documents showed that between October and December 2015, Wang had deposited US$6.5m (S$9.1m) into an account at Marina Bay Sands.
The money was then sent to other guests at the resort via 22 separate transfers. Wang has maintained that these transactions were unlawful, although no further information as to how much was sent to each person and who they were was made public.
the originals have since been shredded by the resort
While Marina Bay Sands provided evidence that the transfers had all been authorized via documents from Macau, Wang said that his signature had been copied and pasted. The originals have since been shredded by the resort for supposed confidentiality reasons.
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Non-admission of liability
According to the lawsuit, the casino “failed to verify whether the Disputed Authorization Letters were, in fact, signed by the plaintiff before effecting the disputed transactions.”
While neither Wang nor Marina Bay Sands have commented on the case, a friend of Wang’s spoke to Bloomberg News, saying: “There is a non-admission of liability from both sides as part of the settlement.”
The friend also confirmed that Wang will still be able to frequent the casino, as long as he adheres to their internal policies.
Marina Bay Sands Hotel And Casino
Casino subject to investigations
Marina Bay Sands Casino Address
Owned by the Las Vegas Sands Corporation and American billionaire Sheldon Adelson, Marina Bay Sands is a popular venue in Singapore. It is one of only two casinos that holds a license in the jurisdiction.
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It is being investigated by the U.S. Department of Justice after it was found to have violated anti-money laundering regulations in its procedures with high rollers. In January, the DOJ reportedly issued a grand jury subpoena the casino’s former compliance chief.