Las Vegas Sands, which doesn’t have a casino resort in the U.S., said last week its proposal for building a $5 billion gaming, hotel and convention complex on Long Island, New York, was progressing but there wasn’t much news to report.
The company is among a handful of casino operators with ties to Nevada that are bidding on one of three casino licenses New York plans to award next year for the New York City area.
Sands, which sold The Venetian, Palazzo and Venetian Expo last year for $6.25 billion, has maintained its corporate presence in Las Vegas. However, the company only operates resorts in Macau and Singapore.
In New York, Sands wants to develop 80 acres in Nassau County, which includes the Nassau Veterans Memorial Coliseum — the longtime home of the NHL’s New York Islanders — into an integrated resort complex.
“This is simply an extraordinary opportunity. We are very excited about the prospect,” Sands Chairman and CEO Rob Goldstein said on the company’s third-quarter earnings conference call last week. “Our bid is compelling. [If] we are awarded the license, we will be in the ground as quickly as possible.”
During the call, one gaming analyst asked if Sands has the cash flow to cover ongoing expansion projects in Macau and Singapore, which have totaled more than $3 billion, as well as investing in a New York casino.
Sands President Patrick Dumont said the company is sitting on $5.6 billion in cash and its casinos in Macau and Singapore are generating profits.
“We’re going to pursue other growth opportunities in new jurisdictions, and we’ll be able to do it all because of the timing of the cash flow, the cash we have on hand and the cash tentative nature of our assets,” Dumont said.
