{"id":5775,"date":"2011-02-15T14:31:26","date_gmt":"2011-02-15T22:31:26","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.lasvegasadvisor.com\/stiffs-and-georges\/?p=5775"},"modified":"2020-09-14T06:53:37","modified_gmt":"2020-09-14T14:53:37","slug":"las-vegas-sands-whos-minding-the-store","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.lasvegasadvisor.com\/stiffs-and-georges\/las-vegas-sands-whos-minding-the-store\/","title":{"rendered":"Las Vegas Sands: Who’s minding the store?"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"Investors would do well to ask that, not least because of CEO Sheldon Adelson<\/strong>‘s attitude of, ‘The buck stops here … except when it doesn’t.’ To hear Adelson tell it, everything that goes awry at Las Vegas Sands<\/strong> and Sands China<\/strong> is the handiwork of those old Family Circus<\/em> poltergeists Ida Know<\/strong> and Not Me<\/strong>.<\/p>\n

But the recent litany of accusations<\/a> against canned Sands China CEO Steven Jacobs<\/strong> really makes you wonder who’s in charge at Adelson Central. If Jacobs was able to negotiate deals with (to name but a few) Four Seasons<\/strong>, Playboy<\/strong> and Cirque du Soleil<\/strong> without having to run it past Sands HQ, he was not only way off the reservation but there was clearly no attempt made to rein him in. After all, every one of those supposedly sub rosa<\/em> arrangements eventually bore fruit and was consummated by Sands. Playboy Club<\/strong> at Sands Macao<\/strong>? Check. Cirque show (Zaia<\/em>) in place? Check. Four Seasons up and running? Check and check.<\/p>\n

\"\"Sands’ defense boils<\/strong> down to: ‘Jacobs was running amok and there was nothing we could do to stop him.’ Pretty weak, if not pathetic. The company’s accusations are as nothing compared to Jacobs’ own assertions, which include charges that Adelson’s firms were siphoning high rollers away from Macao<\/strong> to prop up Marina Bay Sands<\/strong> in Singapore<\/strong> — and were doing the same with construction monies intended for the Cotai Strip™<\/strong>. That’s activity upon which Macanese authorities would deeply frown and may be related to a recent series of Macao setbacks<\/a> suffered by Adelson, including an embarrassing prostitution bust at Venetian Macao<\/strong>. And if Adelson spied on government officials or asked banks to lean on Macao to grant him special favors, the flies would be well and truly in the butter.<\/p>\n

On a less sensational level<\/strong>, there’s the question of whether Jacobs’ efforts to franchise a Caesars Palace<\/strong>-branded Cotai<\/strong> casino would have passed muster with Fernando Chui<\/strong>‘s administration. The creation of an after-the-fact joint venture (as opposed to pre-arranged JVs MGM Grand Paradise<\/strong> or Melco Crown Entertainment<\/strong>, for instance) flouts Macao’s 3 + 3 formula of casino concessions and subconcessions by introducing a de facto<\/em> fourth subconcessionaire … despite clear governmental decrees that no<\/em> new gaming operators would be allowed into the market. The best CEO Gary Loveman<\/strong> could hope for would be a gelded “Caesars Cotai,” with his company a pure hotel operator that hosts a Sands-owned-and-operated casino … not unlike the dozens of hotels that are commercial concubines of Stanley Ho<\/strong>‘s Sociedade de Jogos de Macau<\/strong>.<\/p>\n

\"\"In a new filing<\/strong> that depicts Adelson and #2 man Michael Leven<\/strong> (left<\/em>) as habitual micromanagers, Jacobs calls for Nevada<\/strong> regulatory involvement by arguing that LV Sands and Sands China are symbiotic<\/a> and not separated by what lawyers like to call “a Chinese wall.” Leven, in particular, appears to have been far from clueless<\/a> with regard to the Harrah’s negotiations … which is a nice way of saying $2 Million Mike looks like he was in it up to his eyebrows<\/a>. (Loveman himself will probably have to address the matter next week<\/a>.)<\/p>\n

If the Nevada Gaming Control Board<\/strong> could — and did — “develop investigative product” on possible Triad involvement in a VIP room leased from Sands Macao, it cannot sit this one out without appearing (to put it politely) engaged in capricious enforcement of its own rules. In the meantime, Sands is getting a reminder that an e-mail has a half-life of forever<\/a>.<\/p>\n

\"\"Let’s say Sands’ assertions<\/strong> are totally accurate. Why should Wall Street<\/strong> trust corporate officers like Adelson and Leven who are incapable — by their own assertion — of preventing a subordinate from freelancing policy on a scale hitherto unimaginable? If they’re as out of it as they claim, shouldn’t they resign? I suspect they’re more cagey than gullible. This duo didn’t get where they are by being dupes.<\/p>\n

They can certainly boast of prescience with regard to Singapore, where Marina Bay Sands is currently on track for a $1.2 billion per year in cash flow — or a 22% ROI, fulfilling Adelson’s prediction it would pay for itself in five years, a 70% cost overrun notwithstanding. Year-old rival Resorts World Sentosa<\/strong> posted revenue of $1.5 billion over the last nine months<\/a>, further embarrassing those casino magnates who chose to either sit this one out (*cough<\/em>*Steve Wynn<\/strong>*cough<\/em>*), gave up too soon (*cough<\/em>*Gary Loveman*cough<\/em>*) or tried to get in too late. (I’m looking at you, James Packer<\/strong>. And you, too, Lawrence Ho<\/strong>.)<\/p>\n

R-J<\/em> discovers Twitter<\/strong>. No, seriously<\/a>. But it’s not as bad as it looks. It’s worse<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Stupidity alert<\/strong>. As far as the NFL<\/strong> is concerned, it is perfectly OK for a local TV station to run an ad during the Super Bowl<\/strong> that literally depicted a local attorney chasing an ambulance<\/em>. However, airing a TV spot for a nationally famous company known as Station Casinos<\/strong>? Horrors! Katie, bar the door<\/a>! Thank goodness other major-league sports don’t share this benighted attitude.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Investors would do well to ask that, not least because of CEO Sheldon Adelson‘s attitude of, ‘The buck stops here … except when it doesn’t.’ To hear Adelson tell it, everything that goes awry at Las Vegas Sands and Sands … Continue reading →<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[80,28,120,96,94,62,53,93,11,110,33,25,12,108,74,61,57,32,8,87,19,38],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lasvegasadvisor.com\/stiffs-and-georges\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5775"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lasvegasadvisor.com\/stiffs-and-georges\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lasvegasadvisor.com\/stiffs-and-georges\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lasvegasadvisor.com\/stiffs-and-georges\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lasvegasadvisor.com\/stiffs-and-georges\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=5775"}],"version-history":[{"count":5,"href":"https:\/\/www.lasvegasadvisor.com\/stiffs-and-georges\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5775\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":27971,"href":"https:\/\/www.lasvegasadvisor.com\/stiffs-and-georges\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5775\/revisions\/27971"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lasvegasadvisor.com\/stiffs-and-georges\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=5775"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lasvegasadvisor.com\/stiffs-and-georges\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=5775"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lasvegasadvisor.com\/stiffs-and-georges\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=5775"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}