Wall Street analysts succeeded in setting their expectation for Las Vegas Sands performance in Macao so low that the company was 
able to exceed them despite deep, double-digit declines in revenue, including 14% less revenue per hotel room. Lower marketing costs were cited and “retail came in better than expected (retail mall profits were up 21%)” wrote J.P. Morgan analyst Joseph Greff. Also, the decline in premium mass-market play was smaller than that in the base mass-market segment.
Even a slippage at Marina Bay Sands in Singapore was ameliorated by higher premium-mass play from China, South Korea and Japan. Back in Macao, “Management indicated that the Parisian could open in 12 months, but that is a 
timetable we believe is aggressive and are still modeling for an early 2017 opening,” wrote Greff. CEO Sheldon Adelson said he’d been “getting vibes about new gaming resort markets opening up in Asia,” but Greff was skeptical: “we’d chalk this comment up to eternal optimism and don’t see this as an opportunity in the near-term.”
Back on the home front, low table hold hurt Sands’ Las Vegas properties but room revenues were up 6.5%, oustripping MGM 
Resorts International‘s 5% gain. Net revenues and cash flow missed expectations, however, with the latter described as only “respectable.” As for Macao’s relaxation of visa restrictions and proposed smoking bans, Greff speculated “that both Macau and Beijing governments see current demand levels as a baseline to keep social harmony and economic stability.” He predicts “less bad to stable” gaming trends for the rest of the summer.
* Failing popularity of slot machines spelled doom for Condado Plaza Hilton‘s casino, in Puerto Rico. The closure of the 40-year-old casino continues a downward spiral in the territory’s gaming industry, which has seen six previous casino shutdowns in five years. The island’s remaining 20 casinos are fighting a rearguard action against illegal slot machines, which have proliferated like crazy — 45,000 in number.
