Las Vegas Sands has hired a politically connected gaming outsider to take formal charge of its Macau operations.
Hong Kong construction magnate Wilfred Wong, who was a 15-year veteran of China’s top lawmaking body, the National People’s Congress, will replace Rob Goldstein as president and chief operating officer of Sands China on November 1, the company said. Goldstein, who is president and chief operating officers of parent LVS, has served in those roles at the Macau subsidiary on an interim basis.
“We reached outside the gaming industry to find an executive who is highly educated, distinguished and ethical,” said LVS and Sands China Chairman and CEO Sheldon Adelson. “Wilfred has a unique combination of private- and public-sector experience we think will be invaluable to the company at this point in our history.”
Union Gaming Securities Asia analyst Grant Govertsen told Bloomberg, “I suspect that having an influential Chinese person at the helm of the ship would be a distinct positive as it relates to concession renewal, not to mention any other approvals along the way,”
The stakes are high as five-casino group, the largest in Macau, plans to open its US$2.7 billion Parisian Macao megaresort in 2016 in the teeth of an epic market collapse and a politically sensitive environment in which all six original casino concessions begin to expire in 2020. The local government has launched a review of the industry, largely at the urging of the Chinese government, whose aggressive nationwide crackdown on corruption, graft and illicit capital flows has scared off high rollers and battered the city’s world-leading gaming revenues by 30 percent in the last year.
Sands China “will definitely” have its concession renewed after the large investments it has made in Macau and may even get a better deal in terms of taxes or required payments, according to Chris Kwai, an analyst at China International Capital. “It’s just not reasonable to cancel the license, especially for the giants like Sands. In terms of trends, I think they will get a better deal given right now Macau is suffering from a big decline.”
Wong, who is currently chairman and CEO of Hsin Chong Construction Group, has served in various high-level government roles, including as a member of the Hong Kong Basic Law Consultative Committee. The Harvard University graduate was a member of the National People’s Congress from 1997 to 2012.
