At the Venetian Macao, third-quarter VIP rolling chip volume increased 7.6 percent year-on-year, to nearly US$7.43 billion, compared to just under US$6.90 billion in the prior-year period. But at Sands Cotai Central, rolling chip volume was down 9.9 percent, to US$2.56 billion, compared to nearly US$2.85 billion in the prior-year quarter. The Venetian Macao’s mass-market chip drop went up 15 percent annually for the quarter, to nearly US$2.18 billion, compared to US$1.89 billion in the prior-year quarter. At Sands Cotai Central, mass-market chip drop expanded 14.4 percent year-on-year, to US$1.65 billion, from US$1.44 billion.
Slot machine handle at Venetian Macao was up 12.4 percent year-on-year, to US$807 million, from US$718 million. At Sands Cotai Central, slot machine handle remained greater in volume than at its sister property, but was nonetheless down 4.1 percent on an annual basis, to US$1.13 billion, from US$1.18 billion in third-quarter 2017. A Thursday note from JP Morgan Securities Asia Pacific Ltd said Sands China’s third-quarter numbers were “nothing to write home about, but (way) much better than its share performance”. “The company continued to gain VIP share (albeit from a low base) and maintained its dominant position in mass, which were within expectations but still quite impressive. All-in-all, we can’t help but think that the recent ‘collapse’ in the [Sands China] stock is extremely overdone, and we stay overweight,” wrote analysts DS Kim and Sean Zhuang.
At Marina Bay Sands, Las Vegas Sands said VIP chip volume was down a hefty 24.9 percent year-on-year, to US$7.09 billion, from US$9.44 billion a year earlier. Mass-market chip drop in the Singapore venue was down 1.2 percent, at just under US$1.36 billion, from US$1.37 billion. Slot handle there was US$3.62 billion, from US$3.66 billion in third-quarter 2017, a slight dip of 0.9 percent. Samuel Yin Shao Yang, an analyst at Malaysia’s Maybank Investment Bank Bhd – which does not formally cover Las Vegas Sands’ stock – said in a Thursday note: “Marina Bay Sands’ third-quarter 2018 VIP volume fell 25 percent year-on-year but narrower than the second-quarter 2018 fall of 33 percent year-on-year.”
He added: “Industry talk is that Marina Bay Sands is focusing less on the VIP market. That said, Marina Bay Sands’ third-quarter VIP volume was up 21 percent quarter-on-quarter.”
