Las Vegas Sands is headed to court in Macau next month to try to fend off a former partner in the Chinese territory that is suing the gaming giant for billions of dollars in compensation, claiming LVS jettisoned the relationship once it got close to winning a casino license.
U.S.-based Asian American Entertainment is seeking more than MOP96 billion, the equivalent of more than US$11 billion, as part of a claim dating back to 2012 alleging that LVS surreptitiously ended their partnership to join a bid with Hong Kong-based Galaxy Entertainment Group, one of the three companies ultimately awarded a casino concession by the Macau government when the market was formally opened to competition in 2002.
AAEC has claimed that Las Vegas Sands “unlawfully and wrongfully appropriated” its casino bid and that it didn’t learn that LVS had broken off their agreement until Galaxy was announced as one of the winners in February of that year.
The compensation is for lost profits going back to 2004, when LVS opened its first Macau casino, to 2018. AAEC also reserves the right to pursue lost profits up to 2022, the year when the six Macau casinos licenses are due to expire.
AAEC had filed a similar lawsuit against Sands with U.S. District Court in Nevada, but withdrew the case in 2014.
The initial hearing in Macau is scheduled for September 11.
LVS said in its first-half financial report that it “intends to defend this matter vigorously”.
