Despite driving nearly four million customers to its newly opened Macau mega-resort, Las Vegas Sands Corporation has booked an unexpected third-quarter loss, due primarily to high pre-opening expenses and an unlucky run in its casinos.
The US casino giant run by billionaire Sheldon Adelson saw revenue for the third quarter of 2007 increase 19.5 per cent to a record US$661m.
The company, however, swung to a $48.5m loss, compared to net income of $97.3m in the comparable period last year.
This loss was principally driven by costs associated with the opening of the Macau Venetian resort, which opened in August. Las Vegas Sands also estimated that lower-than-usual hold percentage on casino games wiped out more than $30m in profits.
"We just didn’t have a good quarter. That’s the end of it. That quarter is not lasting," said Adelson, who is ranked third on Forbes’ list of richest Americans. "It’s just the nature of the business. And it makes a good trading opportunity for day traders and hedge funds."
