In this regular feature in IAG to celebrate 18 years covering the Asian gaming and leisure industry, we look back at our cover story from exactly 10 years ago, “Time of Sands”, when we looked back at what was then the 10th anniversary of Sands Macao, opened in May 2004.
This month represents 20 years since Sands Macao first opened its doors, changing the face of the global gaming industry forever.
The story of that famous day on 18 May 2004 is etched into folklore and was rekindled a decade ago in the May 2014 issue of Inside Asian Gaming, when we celebrated the then 10th anniversary with a deep dive retrospective.
As the famous tale goes, a crowd began forming outside Sands Macao a good 10 hours before doors were due to open for the very first time at 4pm and swelled even further at midday when a rumor spread that all guests were to receive free chips worth MOP$200 (US$25) upon entry.
Around 2pm, Las Vegas Sands Executive Vice President Brad Stone came downstairs to check out the scene and saw thousands of people pressed up against the glass entrance doors, having already pushed past exterior barricades.
Fearing there would be a crush, Stone yelled, “Open the doors now! I want these doors open now!” but efforts to do so were thwarted because the doors were designed to open outwards rather than in. That left guards with little option but to rip the doors from their hinges to prevent a tragedy, with the crowd rushing through and onto the escalators, only for those escalators to also break down in a shuddering halt due to the overwhelming mass of bodies climbing them.
In our May 2014 cover story, we quoted a local resident present at the time, who recalled, “I remember the head of security, this big Australian guy, trying to stop people from getting on and help the ones coming down. He looked like a superhero, this big gweilo [Westerner] trying to catch these little Chinese people.”
Sands Macao welcomed an incredible 40,000 guests that day – triple its official capacity – and contrary to those who had doubted the idea that a luxury resort (by the time’s standards) could work in Macau, the property famously earned back its full US$265 million construction cost within just nine months.
Lore is just as widely regaled with the reaction of Macau’s casino king, Dr Stanley Ho, who put on a brave face in front of reporters but was said to be seething within.
“When Stanley Ho went up the escalator and saw the Sands gaming floor, his jaw dropped,” a witness recalled. It has been said that Dr Ho later turned to his inner circle and fired, “We are Chinese, and we will not be disgraced. We will not lose to intruders.”
Still, it was the stunning success of Sands Macao that proved to the world just what a cash cow Macau could be and ultimately paved the way for the massive integrated resorts that now grace the Cotai Strip.
“We woke up the world to Asian gaming,” a former LVS executive who requested anonymity told IAG. “Sands Macao proved the value and profitability of mass gaming.”
Spectrum Gaming Group’s Paul Bromberg added, “Sands Macao’s impact was huge. It was the thing that transformed the gaming industry in Macau. Before that, the casinos were fairly sleazy and didn’t have any razzamatazz. Sands brought the Las Vegas buzz to Macau.”
It also brought huge revenues. While Sands Macao was the first of Macau’s new casino developments following liberalization of the industry – helping push GGR from US$3.6 billion in 2003 to $5.2 billion in 2004 and past Las Vegas to US$8.6 billion in 2006 – it was merely a precursor to what would follow as Wynn, MGM, Galaxy and Melco all opened their own properties in the years that followed. By 2013, Macau-wide GGR had soared to a massive US$45.2 billion, a record that stands to this day given China’s anti-graft crackdown that followed from 2014.
Sands Macao’s success also began the transformation of Las Vegas Sands into the world’s most valuable gaming enterprise.
“It turned the company from a Las Vegas company with two assets – Venetian Las Vegas and the Sands Expo Convention Center – into a true international gaming company,” said Global Market Advisors partner Andrew Klebanow.
LVS went public barely six months after Sands Macao’s opening, in December 2004, putting the company well and truly on the global map and paving the way for other developments to follow, such as the company’s iconic Marina Bay Sands in Singapore.
It also made founder Sheldon Adelson a billionaire many times over and one of the most recognizable businessmen on the planet before his passing in 2021. His legacy will live on for many decades to come.
