Las Vegas Sands Confirms $1bn Expansion For Marina Bay Sands Resort

Summary

• LVS to invest $1 billion in Marina Bay Sands expansion
• This is in addition to the promised $3.3 billion expansion plans
• Singapore changing gaming tax rates

Las Vegas Sands Corp. (LVS) has announced that it will be investing heavily into Singapore by pumping in $1 billion into its iconic Marina Bay Sands (MBS) resort.

The company committed to the government in Singapore that it would investing $3.3 billion into MBS in 2019 and clarified that the $1 billion investment was in addition to the earlier $3.3 billion commitment.

Renovation Plans Include Luxurious Suites

LVS made it clear after the death of Chairman Sheldon Adelson in 2021 that the company was going to switch its focus from North America to its Asian operations. Soon after, LVS surprised the market when it announced that it was going to sell all of its casino properties in Las Vegas and invest the money into its Asian operations.

Hence the additional $1 billion commitment to MBS does not come as a major surprise. Robert Goldstein, Chairman for LVS shared more details this week during a 4th quarter earnings call. Goldstein said the company would invest an additional $1 billion as they wanted to carry out a major makeover and add a number of luxury suites to MBS.

The new strategy for MBS is to focus on attracting VIP and premium clientele. Most of the hotel rooms are going to be given a makeover to appeal to this new demography. LVS stated that the completion timeline for this massive expansion project is 2026. The completion date has been pushed back as LVS had announced in its 3rd quarter earnings call that the project would be completed in 2025.

Alvin Tan Sheng Hui, Minister of State for Trade and Industry said that when you take into consideration the impact of COVID-19 and the repercussions, it is hard to provide an exact estimate as to when the expansion plans will be completed.

Singapore Changing Gaming Tax Rates

Singapore has announced new tax rates for the gaming market from March 2022. The current 15 percent tax rate on mass gross gaming revenues (GGR) will now increase to 18 percent till SGD 3.1 billion GGR and anything over will incur a tax rate of 22 percent.

When it comes to premium GGR, the current tax rate is a flat 5 percent. It will now increase to 8 percent till SGD 2.4 billion and then incur a tax rate of 12 percent.