Las Vegas Sands Corp, the world's largest gaming company by market value, reported its third consecutive quarterly loss as rising costs and cut-throat competition for high rollers in Macau pushed the firm US$11.2 million into the red during the first three months of the year.
The company made a net profit of US$90.9 million a year earlier.
The latest result was in spite of growth in the overall gaming industry in the city.
Casino revenues in Macau surged 62 per cent to 29.82 billion patacas in the first three months, faster than the previous quarter's 46 per cent rise, according to government data released last month. Casino winnings from high rollers soared 73 per cent to 20.8 billion patacas, accounting for 69.7 per cent of all revenue.
The developer of the Sands Macao and Venetian Macao said operating income from its Macau operations fell 20 per cent to US$106.39 million from US$133.02 million in the fourth quarter.
Revenue at the two resorts fell 8 per cent to US$723.99 million from the previous quarter. Earnings before interest, tax, depreciation and amortisation dropped 10.8 per cent to US$173.57 million from US$194.6 million.
'We lost significant market share in the VIP business [in Macau],' president and chief operating officer William Weidner said. 'It's clearly unsatisfactory. We've now taken action to remedy our loss of VIP market share.'