Top executives of both MGM Resorts International and Las Vegas Sands met in Toronto with J.P. Morgan analyst Joseph Greff. MGM sent CFO Jonathan Halkyard and Director of Investor Relations Andrew Chapman to Canada, while Sands dispatched Senior Vice President of Investor Relations Daniel Briggs.
According to Briggs, Sands is “encouraged” by the shift away from high rollers to the premium-mass-market at its Macau properties. He stated that the mass-market comprises higher-margin customers, enabling cash flow to recover even before gambling revenue does. Also, with The Londoner now fully open, bringing additional luxury suites — 10 percent of 12,000 rooms — Sands is better positioned to compete for top-tier customers in the enclave.
Macanese retail sales have recovered to pre-pandemic levels for Sands. They’re doing even better in Singapore, the company reported, which Greff deemed particularly impressive, “considering the lack of recovery from Mainland China visitation.”
Also focusing on Macau, MGM declared that its Cotai Strip resort is, in Greff’s words, “performing near optimal levels, with most of the additional 200 tables from the concession renewal now operational.” MGM’s better-than-previous market share was deemed “roughly sustainable,” particularly given the augmentation of its suite product, table games, and the increased capture of high rollers.
In MGM’s bread-and-butter market, Las Vegas, the company reported a strong shift in its customer base toward gamblers, who now represent 30 percent of room nights, compared to 20 percent before COVID. Fortunately for the company, these bookings tend to be made directly, rather than through online travel agencies, giving the company higher-margin business.
Younger customers continue to gravitate toward the Mlife loyalty program, Halkyard and Chapman said, as well as to BetMGM and electronic table games on casino floors. Sportsbooks were also said to be burgeoning, “providing a more favorable mix of demand.”
