Inspired by a conversation with September Gaming Research Fellow Kah-Wee Lee, I wrote a Green Felt Journal for Vegas Seven about Singapore and Las Vegas:
Imagine a casino-resort complex built by a world-renowned architect responsible for iconic buildings on multiple continents. From the start, it’s designed to be more than a mere gambling hall: It will have unparalleled convention facilities, restaurants helmed by celebrated chefs and buildings that look nothing like anything that’s been seen in Las Vegas before.
If you’re MGM Resorts International, you’ve just built CityCenter. It has posted operating losses each quarter since it opened; the company is attempting to implode the Harmon, which was to be its gateway structure. While it’s debatable to claim that it’s a failure, it certainly hasn’t been a catalyst for a dramatic rebound on the Strip, as MGM CEO Jim Murren forecast it to be, and no one’s claimed that it’s been particularly successful.
But if you’re the Las Vegas Sands Corp., owners of the Venetian and Palazzo, you’re presiding over the Marina Bay Sands, which recorded $585 million in net revenues in the first three months of this year—nearly double what the company’s Las Vegas properties brought in. And the Marina Bay resort is still ramping up.
It’s a matter of perspective, isn’t it? And location, naturally.