{"id":31170,"date":"2015-09-12T10:00:23","date_gmt":"2015-09-12T17:00:23","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/?p=31170"},"modified":"2015-09-11T14:18:04","modified_gmt":"2015-09-11T21:18:04","slug":"macau-junket-ops-on-last-leg-says-lvs-president","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/macau-junket-ops-on-last-leg-says-lvs-president\/","title":{"rendered":"Macau Junket Operations Close to Extinction, Says LVS Executive"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"LVS
Las Vegas Sands Corp. President Rob Goldstein (left) sees Macau and its junkets as permanently ruptured. (Image: flickr.com)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Macau junket operations were once the lifeblood of the Asian gambling mecca’s heartbeat, but it looks like that reality is now flatlining.\u00a0To be blunt, Macau\u2019s VIP junket operations<\/a> lie in ruins, according to a top executive at Las Vegas Sands Corp., anyway.<\/p>\n

Addressing the Gaming and Lodging Conference 2015 for investors in New York this week, the president and COO of Las Vegas Sands Corp<\/a>. Rob Goldstein called the junket business model\u00a0\u201cbroken.\u201d<\/p>\n

Until recently, junkets were responsible for around 60 percent of Macau\u2019s annual revenues.<\/p>\n

These trip operators act as middlemen, organizing lavish forays for VIP high-rollers, who have been almost exclusively Chinese. Because of financial restrictions on moving money from the mainland to Macau, the junkets lend VIPs large amounts of money, then collect the debts when they return to China.<\/p>\n

But a slowing Chinese economy, coupled with an unprecedented corruption crackdown from Beijing, has hit the junkets hard.<\/p>\n

China Crisis<\/h2>\n

\u201cI don\u2019t have a lot of confidence in the VIP [market in Macau] because I think the junket model, for now, is broken,\u201d said Goldstein, whose company owns four casino resorts in the region. Sands is also building another, a $2.7 billion project on the Cotai Strip.<\/p>\n

\u201cI can\u2019t envision the VIP [market] getting back to the full throttle of a year ago, and for numerous factors,\u201d he added. \u201c\u2026the AML [anti-money-laundering] situation, money movement, economics\u2026<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s hard for me to see a catalyst to make VIP get strong again. It resides with consumer confidence and consumers\u2019 ability to earn the cash. That\u2019s going to take a while to rebuild.\u201d<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

The until-recently booming gambling hub\u2019s decline in fortunes has dented LVS revenues significantly, and China\u2019s decision to devalue the yuan sent its stock tumbling throughout August.<\/p>\n

Because bets in Macau are made in Honk Kong dollars rather than yuan, the devaluation essentially makes bets more expensive for the Chinese, further adding to Macau’s and LVS\u2019s woes.<\/p>\n

Questions Over LVS Junket Links<\/h2>\n

\u201cThe confidence of that level of consumer at the very high end, I think that is probably [the most] fragile of any of the segments, because of the real estate, the equities, the currency devaluation,\u201d said Goldstein on the subject of the Chinese economy. \u201cI don\u2019t think anyone in China, no matter how rich or poor they may be, is unaffected by consumer confidence right now.\u201d<\/p>\n

In June, the Campaign for Accountability and the UK\u2019s Guardian<\/em> newspaper filed legal action calling on a judge to release potentially incriminating court documents<\/a> detailing LVS\u2019s relationship with the junkets, many of which have allegedly been infiltrated by organized crime gangs, known as triads.<\/p>\n

The documents relate to a report compiled as part of the wrongful termination lawsuit brought against LVS by its former president and CEO of Sands China, Mark Jacobs.<\/p>\n

In August, Reuters reported that Sands allegedly permitted a man with triad links to transfer $100,000 from a Las Vegas casino to one in Macau.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Macau junket operations were once the lifeblood of the Asian gambling mecca’s heartbeat, but it looks like that reality is now flatlining.\u00a0To be blunt, Macau\u2019s VIP junket operations lie in ruins, according to a top executive at Las Vegas Sands Corp., anyway. Addressing the Gaming and Lodging Conference 2015 for investors in New York this […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":42,"featured_media":31185,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[21,10,18],"tags":[],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\nMacau Junket Operations Close to Extinction, Says LVS Executive<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Macau junket operators are in a bad way, says LVS exceutive Rob Goldstein. 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