It’s difficult to imagine investors being impatient with Las Vegas Sands but The Motley Fool‘s Travis Hoium suggests that they are. “Unless a new market like Japan hits, that cash flow machine is all Las Vegas Sands has to offer,” he 
writes. Sounds plenty good to us. Consider that profit leapt 64% last quarter, admittedly propelled by a one-time, $556 million gain from the sale of Sands Bethlehem. Hoium’s take on Macao was that it was just “shuffling of demand” between the newer resorts. Still, Sands China‘s focus of demand continues to pay off: Revenue at Parisian was up 11.5% and at Four Seasons 13.5%. That’d be a gross of $414 million and $211 million, respectively. True, revenue dipped 5% at Sands Cotai Central ($483 million) but considering that it is in the midst of a $2.2 billion reinvention as The Londoner, that’s not so bad. Even Venetian Macao was still going strong, up 3% for a gross of $854 million.
VIP-derived revenue was down 14% but mass-market play rose 15%, which means Sands is hitting its sweet spot. Marina Bay Sands in Singapore continues to be a colossal contributor, bringing in $688 million and cash flow of $346 million. (We apologize for ever having doubted you, Sheldon.) Hoium has definitely drunk the Kool-Aid on Japan, saying that a Sands resort in the Land of the Rising Sun would “end up being one of the most profitable resorts in the world. And that’s a project worth waiting for, even if the cost is stagnant revenue and earnings today.” Hoium is rarely wrong but he may be a little giddy.
* Officials in Vietnam say they have cracked down on a $436 million, illegal, online gambling ring, arresting 380-plus Chinese nationals. Police confiscated 2,000 cellphones, 533 computers and an undisclosed amount of cash. “This is a criminal organization with new and sophisticated ways of operating in cyberspace under the cover of foreign investment enterprises in Vietnam,” ran the official announcement. The cover for the operation was a subdivision popular with Chinese, Our City, which was backed by Hong Kong‘s Qiafeng Group. Since Vietnamese locals can’t gamble in most casinos, the Haiphong operation had a ready-made clientele.
Sports games and lotteries were the bread and butter of the Internet-based syndicate, which is not without precedent in Vietnamese history. Still, “This is the largest ever gambling ring in terms of both the number of foreigners involved and in terms of money in Vietnamese territory,” said the Ministry of Public Security.
A similar, but much smaller, police raid on an Internet gambling operation was conducted in Singapore, netting 36 arrestees and $1.25 million in cash. Police hit five locations simultaneously, freezing the bank accounts of the suspects netted. The latter could be looking at fines from $14,575 to ten times that amount and/or jail terms of five years. And that’s just under the Remote Gaming Act. If charged under the Organized Crime Act is $145,750 and five years in the clink. You really don’t want to play online in Singapore.
* Good news for the horsey set: Maine‘s Scarborough Downs appears to be safe from the glue factory after posting its best year since 2006, boosted by simulcast betting, especially since live harness racing only represents 9% of total track revenue. The harness track is attracting new ponies, which had formerly been lured to Plainridge Park. “There are still challenges ahead,” reports the Press-Herald. “The buildings need repairs, attendance is low, and many horsemen still take their horses out of state. But the future appears brighter than it has in years.” Considering that the track has gone to long-term stability from being on life support two years ago, we can see cause for optimism, even if the Downs would go hooves-up without subsidies from nearby casinos.
If Gov. Janet Mills stops sitting on a new sports-betting bill, the future of the track looks brighter still, probably brining in money to pay for badly needed refurbishments. Even so, Scarborough Downs is cautious, stating, “There are still challenges ahead: The buildings need repairs, attendance is low, and many horsemen still take their horses out of state. But the future appears brighter than it has in years.” We suggest that the first order of business be to get the horse-manure seepage out of the ground water. Ewwwww!
* North Carolina, effective Sept. 1, will make it legal for you to bring your cat or dog to a brewery that doesn’t serve food. Yes, you and Fido can drink together, him on some water, you a fine beer. Way to go, Tarheel State!
