AGI hears that a possible deal to sell apartment units in Las Vegas Sands Corp.’s Four Seasons complex to a Japanese investor is back on the back burner.
We understand the parties couldn’t quite agree terms on the deal. Japan remains though a potential hunting ground for LVS in monetising some of its Cotai residential real estate.
An industry insider tells us: “If you’re going to market real estate effectively to the Japanese, you need one of the really big brands. And Four Seasons is a great brand for selling into the Japanese market.”
The received wisdom in the regional gaming industry seems to be that the victory of the Democratic Party of Japan over the country’s traditional post war ruling group, the Liberal Democratic Party, in the August general election is likely to set back the cause of casino legalisation within Japan itself by at least five years.
Nonetheless, with Japan’s ageing and falling population and its disinclination to allow mass immigration to fill the gap, the country’s tax base is shrinking. Given the huge amount of revenue generated in Japan by pachinko, the pinball-style game using steel balls, it would be a brave politician who forever set his or her face against a juicy tax-raising industry such as casino gaming.
Under those circumstances, Japanese VIPs won’t necessarily be a target demographic for Macau operators indefinitely. Anything such as sale of holiday apartments that ties them into the Macau gaming market now can only be a good thing.
RelatedPosts
