After dropping hints the last two quarters about its bid for a casino license in New York, Las Vegas Sands announced Wednesday it’s dropping out of the competition and working to sell its interests in the $6 billion resort planned for Long Island.
President and COO Patrick Dumont made the announcement at the end of Sands’s executives opening statements during a first-quarter earnings call with Wall Street analysts. Surprisingly, no one asked follow-up questions about the announcement, instead focusing instead on Sands properties in Macau and Singapore.
“We strongly believe in the development opportunity for a land-based downstate casino license in New York,” Dumont said. “We also continue to believe that the Nassau Coliseum site (on Long Island) is the best location for that development opportunity and should be highly competitive in the New York casino licensing process. However, as we previously stated, the company remains concerned about the potential impact on the legalization of igaming on the overall market opportunity and project returns.”
Dumont said Sands is in the process “of attempting to secure an agreement with a third party with whom we can transact the opportunity to bid for a casino license on a Nassau Coliseum site.” This includes those who may be able to address both land-based and digital markets in New York, he added. Dumont didn’t name the third party during the earnings call.
Dumont said the best use of Sands capital in the near term is to purchase LVS and Sands China Limited shares.
“Accordingly, LVS has decided not to bid for a casino license in New York,” Dumont said. “We believe repurchases of LVS equities through our repurchase program will be accretive to the company and shareholders over the long term. Our board has increased our share-repurchase authorization to $2 billion.”
Sands proposal to develop the multi-billion resort and casino around the Nassau Coliseum has been opposed by Hofstra University, which is across the street. Opponents fear an increase in crime, traffic, and gambling addiction.
Dumont and CEO Rob Goldstein have both raised concerns about igaming, as highlighted by CDC Gaming in Sands’s third- and fourth-quarter earnings reports.
Sands repurchased $450 million of LVS shares under its share repurchase program during the first quarter. That’s 10 million shares at a weighted average price of $44.59.
The remaining amount authorized under its share repurchase program was $1.1 billion as of March 31, 2025. Subsequently, on April 22, the company’s board of directors authorized increasing the remaining share repurchase amount of $1.1 billion to $2 billion.
“The timing and actual number of shares to be repurchased in the future will depend on a variety of factors, including the company’s financial position, earnings, legal requirements, other investment opportunities, and market conditions,” the company said in a statement.
Sands paid a quarterly dividend of $0.25 per common share during the quarter. Its next quarterly dividend of $0.25 per common share will be paid on May 14 to Las Vegas Sands stockholders of record on May 6.
