Sands' US$4.2b Cotai complex to open with fewer new tables

Las Vegas Sands Corp's new US$4.18 billion Cotai casino complex must make do with 40 per cent fewer new gaming tables than originally anticipated following the Macau government's decision to cap the number of tables in the city at 5,500.

Sands planned to add 670 tables to its half-built, 6,000-room resort with Sheraton, Shangri-La and Traders branded hotels across the street from the Venetian. But following the government's announcement in March that it would limit the supply of new gaming tables until 2013, Sands has received approval to add only 400 new tables at the property.

'We met last week with members of the Macau government and we've been assured in writing of 400 tables to start with, and there are assurances of reviewing tables as we go over the next couple of years,' Sands president and chief operating officer Michael Leven said yesterday.

Macau had 4,811 gaming tables at the end of March, and the decision to try to cool red-hot growth in the casino industry with the 5,500-unit cap has complicated things for resort developers in the midst of large-scale expansions. In addition to Sands, which has spent US$1.73 billion towards building its new property, Galaxy Entertainment is building a HK$14.1 billion Cotai resort scheduled to open next year with space for about 600 tables.

Sands will work within the new quota but still plans to open the property with 670 tables. In addition to the 400 new units, it plans to relocate 170 of its 1,131 existing tables at the Venetian, Sands and Four Seasons casinos. The remaining 100 units will be newly added electronic gaming tables, which are technically classified as slot machines.

'We will open with enough tables to justify the [performance] numbers that we've projected,' Leven said.