Macau, China, Jan. 30, 2025 (Lusa) - Macau casino operator Sands China posted profits of US$1.05 billion (€1.01 billion) in 2024, an increase of 50.9%, the parent company announced.
Sands China had ended 2023 with profits of US$696 million (€668 million), putting an end to three years of unprecedented losses.
Even so, the net result in the fourth and final quarter of last year - US$237 million (€227 million) - represents a 17.7% drop compared to the same period in 2023, US-based Las Vegas Sands (LVS) said in a statement.
Revenues from the operator's five casinos in the semi-autonomous region of Macau increased by 8.4% in 2024, to US$7.08 billion (€6.8 billion).
The gambling industry in Macau recorded revenues of 226.8 billion patacas (€217.7 billion) last year, an increase of 4.6%.
With revenues increasing, Sands China reported operating profits of US$2.33 billion (€2.23 billion) in 2024, down 7.3% year-on-year.
The chairman of the parent company, Robert Goldstein, emphasised in the statement that in Macau "the ongoing recovery continued during the quarter, although spending per visitor in the market remains below the levels reached before the pandemic".
However, according to official data, per capita spending by tourists visiting the territory between January and September was 2,168 patacas ( €260), 36.9% more than in the same period in 2019.
Goldstein recalled that Sands China has made a "decade-long commitment to make investments that enhance Macau's business and leisure tourism appeal and support its development as a world centre for business and leisure tourism".
The company is one of six casino concessionaires operating in the territory and whose concession contract for the next 10 years came into force on 1 January 2023.
At the time, the six operators pledged to invest "more than 100 billion patacas' (€12 billion) in non-gambling developments. Sands announced ‘an iconic winter garden’ of 50,000 square metres.
The territory received 34.9 million visitors in 2024, up 23.8% on the previous year, but still far from the record of 39.4 million set in 2019, before the pandemic.
Macau is the gambling capital of the world and the only place in China where casino gambling is legal.
VQ/AYLS // AYLS
Lusa
