Q3 2026 Las Vegas Sands Corp Earnings Call

October 21, 2026

Operator: Good day everyone, and welcome to the Sands Q3 2026 earnings conference call. At this time, all participants are placed on a listen-only mode, and we will open the floor for your questions and comments after the presentation. It is now my pleasure to hand the floor over to your host, Mr. Daniel Briggs, Senior Vice President of Investor Relations. Sir, the floor is yours.

Speaker #1: Good day, everyone, and welcome to the Sands Q3 2026 earnings conference call. At this time, all participants are placed on listen-only mode, and we will open the floor for your questions and comments after the presentation.

Speaker #1: It is now my pleasure to hand the floor over to your host, Mr. Daniel Briggs, Senior Vice President of Investor Relations. Sir, the floor is yours.

Daniel Briggs: Thank you. Joining the call today are Patrick Dumont, our Chairman and Chief Executive Officer, Dr. Wilfred Wong, Executive Vice Chairman of Sands China, and Grant Chum, CEO and President of Sands China and EVP of Asia Operations. Today's conference call will contain forward-looking statements. We will be making those statements under the safe harbor provision of federal securities laws. The language on forward-looking statements included in our press release also applies to our comments made on the call today. The company's actual results may differ materially from the results reflected in those forward-looking statements. In addition, we will discuss non-GAAP measures. Reconciliations to the most comparable GAAP financial measure are included in our press release. We have posted an earnings presentation on our website.

Speaker #2: Thank you. Joining the call today are Patrick Dumont, our Chairman and Chief Executive Officer; Dr. Wilfred Wong, Executive Vice Chairman of Sands China; and Grant Chum, CEO and President of Sands China and EVP of Asia Operations. Today's conference call will contain forward-looking statements.

Speaker #2: We'll be making those statements under the Safe Harbor provision of federal securities laws. The language on forward-looking statements included in our press release also applies to our comments made on the call today.

Speaker #2: The company's actual results may differ materially from the results reflected in those forward-looking statements. In addition, we will discuss non-GAAP measures. Reconciliations to the most comparable GAAP financial measures are included in our press release.

Speaker #2: We have posted an earnings presentation on our website. We will refer to that presentation during the call. Finally, for the Q&A session, we ask those with interest to please pose one question and one follow-up, so we might allow everyone with interest the opportunity to participate.

Daniel Briggs: We will refer to that presentation during the call. Finally, for the Q&A session, we ask those with interest to please pose one question and one follow-up, so we might allow everyone with interest the opportunity to participate. This presentation is being recorded. I will now turn the call over to Patrick.

Speaker #2: This presentation is being recorded. I'll now turn the call over to Patrick.

Patrick Dumont: Thanks, Dan. Good afternoon. Thank you for joining the call. I wanted to start with a few summary points. We remain confident in our long-term strategy in both Singapore and Macau, and we will continue to invest for future growth. We have a long-term view on economic growth in Asia. We believe the trends of economic growth and wealth creation will continue into the future. Our goal is to position our property portfolio to capitalize on a growing demand of premium travel and world-class entertainment experiences in Asia. We are fortunate to have the balance sheet and cash flow strength to support our meaningful capital investment program. Turning to our quarterly results, the high end was softer in both of our markets this quarter, which negatively impacted our reported financial results.

Speaker #3: Thanks, Dan. Good afternoon, and thank you for joining the call. I want to start with a few summary points. We remain confident in our long-term strategy in both Singapore and Macau, and we'll continue to invest for future growth.

Speaker #3: We have a long-term view on economic growth in Asia. We believe the trends of economic growth and wealth creation will continue into the future.

Speaker #3: Our goal is to position our property portfolio to capitalize on a growing demand for premium travel and world-class entertainment experiences in Asia. We are fortunate to have the balance sheet and cash flow strength to support our meaningful capital investment program.

Speaker #3: Turning to our quarterly results, the high end was softer in both of our markets this quarter, which negatively impacted our reported financial results. Despite this, we delivered strong financial results at Marina Bay Sands in Singapore, generating an EBITDA of $590 million for the quarter.

Patrick Dumont: Despite this, we delivered strong financial results at Marina Bay Sands in Singapore, generating an EBITDA of $590 million for the quarter. If we had held as expected in our rolling play, our EBITDA would have been $4 million higher or $594 million. Singapore remains an ideal market for high-value tourism. Our focus on creating unique and memorable entertainment and hospitality experience for our customers continues to generate industry-leading financial performance. We believe that growth in tourism in Singapore will continue over the long term. Our financial results continue to reflect the elevation of Marina Bay Sands' structural earnings power following our significant product investments, suite renovations, service enhancements, and the execution of our premium customer strategy. Looking further ahead, we remain enthusiastic about the additional growth opportunities presented by our new development project in Singapore, which will be directly adjacent to Marina Bay Sands.

Speaker #3: If we had held as expected in our rolling play, our EBITDA would have been $4 million higher, or $594 million. Singapore remains an ideal market for high-value tourism.

Speaker #3: Our focus on creating unique and memorable entertainment and hospitality experiences for our customers continues to generate industry-leading financial performance. We believe that growth in tourism in Singapore will continue over the long term.

Speaker #3: Our financial results continue to reflect the elevation of Marina Bay Sands' structural earnings power following our significant product investments, suite renovations, service enhancements, and the execution of our premium customer strategy.

Speaker #3: Looking further ahead, we remain enthusiastic about the additional growth opportunities presented by our new development project in Singapore, which will be directly adjacent to Marina Bay Sands.

Patrick Dumont: It will meaningfully increase our premium suite capacity, service and entertainment offerings, and will include the introduction of a state-of-the-art arena envisioned to be the finest in Asia. We remain on track with the development process and look forward to opening our new development in early 2031, subject to the required government approvals. Let's turn to Macau. We delivered $529 million of EBITDA for the quarter. If we had held as expected in our rolling play, our EBITDA would have been $11 million lower or $518 million. Sands China's growth in gaming revenues and volumes meaningfully outperformed the Macau market overall. We are encouraged by our progress there. Our market share of Macau mass gaming revenue reached 26.1% for the quarter, our strongest performance since Q4 2023. When compared to Q3 2025, we delivered growth in gaming volumes across all segments.

Speaker #3: It will meaningfully increase our premium suite capacity, service, and entertainment offerings, and will include the introduction of a state-of-the-art arena, envisioned to be the finest in Asia.

Speaker #3: We remain on track with the development process and look forward to opening our new development in early 2031, subject to the required government approvals.

Speaker #3: Let's turn to Macau. We delivered $529 million of EBITDA for the quarter. If we had held as expected in our rolling play, our EBITDA would have been $11 million lower, or $518 million.

Speaker #3: Sands China's growth in gaming revenues and volumes meaningfully outperformed the Macau market overall. We are encouraged by our progress there. Our market share of Macau Mass Gaming revenue reached 26.1% for the quarter, our strongest performance since the fourth quarter of 2023.

Speaker #3: When compared to the third quarter of 2025, we delivered growth in gaming volumes across all segments. Rolling volume was up 31% year over year.

Patrick Dumont: Rolling volume was up 31% year over year. Our non-rolling drop was up 11% year over year. Slot ETG handle was up 26% year over year. We believe these improvements are indicative of our progress in product and service level improvements. I would also like to highlight our approach to reinvestment in Macau has remained consistent over the last several quarters. Our goal is to remain consistent with our reinvestment strategy going forward and to achieve greater profitability as revenues grow in the future. With respect to operating expenses, as we mentioned last quarter, we have elected over the last year to invest in additional table operating hours, increased sales, marketing and customer service personnel, and enhanced levels of customer service. We continue to believe these investments are critical to the achievement of our long-term objectives.

Speaker #3: Our non-rolling drop was up 11% year over year, and slide ETG handle was up 26% year over year. We believe these improvements are indicative of our progress in product and service level improvements.

Speaker #3: I would also like to highlight that our approach to reinvestment in Macau has remained consistent over the last several quarters. Our goal is to remain consistent with our reinvestment strategy going forward and to achieve greater profitability as revenues grow in the future.

Speaker #3: With respect to operating expenses, as we've mentioned last quarter, we have elected over the last year to invest in an additional table of operating hours and increase sales, marketing, and customer service personnel, as well as enhanced levels of customer service.

Speaker #3: We continue to believe these investments are critical to the achievement of our long-term objectives. These objectives are providing outstanding service in hospitality to our customers and creating unique and memorable experiences.

Patrick Dumont: These objectives are providing outstanding service and hospitality to our customers and creating unique and memorable experiences. We are continuing to invest in Macau, and we are focused on the highest return projects over the next three years to create the best opportunities to increase cash flow. Through our capital investment program, we are reorienting our Macau portfolio to address the most profitable segments. The renovation of The Venetian, which commenced in March, is progressing. We expect to have The Venetian refreshed and reintroduced by Chinese New Year 2028, along with new premium-focused gaming salons and related amenities. Macau remains the largest gaming market in the world, and we believe the market will grow and reach new heights in the years ahead.

Speaker #3: We are continuing to invest in Macau, and we are focused on the highest-return projects over the next three years to create the best opportunities to increase cash flow.

Speaker #3: Through our capital investment program, we are reorienting our Macau portfolio to address the most profitable segments. The renovation of The Venetian, which commenced in March, is progressing.

Speaker #3: We expect to have The Venetian refreshed and reintroduced by Chinese New Year 2028, along with new premium-focused gaming salons and related amenities. Macau remains the largest gaming market in the world, and we believe the market will grow and reach new heights in the years ahead.

Patrick Dumont: We retain our goal of reaching $700 million in quarterly EBITDA and more over time as we fully implement our investment and operating strategies and as the Macau market grows in the future. Regarding our programs returning capital to shareholders, we repurchased $950 million of LVS stock during the quarter. We have now repurchased 19% of the company's outstanding shares over the last 12 quarters. We have approximately $5 billion remaining on the $6 billion repurchase authorization from our board approved in July. We believe additional repurchases of LVS equity through our share repurchase program will be meaningfully accretive to the company and its shareholders over the long term. We also paid our recurring quarterly dividend of $0.30 per share during the quarter. In addition, our board has approved a 20% increase in our quarterly dividend to $0.36 per share, beginning the first quarter of 2027.

Speaker #3: We retain our goal of reaching $700 million in quarterly EBITDA—and more over time—as we fully implement our investment and operating strategies, and as the Macau market grows in the future.

Speaker #3: Regarding our programs for returning capital to shareholders, we purchased $950 million of LVS stock during the quarter. We have now repurchased 19% of the company's outstanding shares over the last 12 quarters.

Speaker #3: We have approximately $5 billion remaining on the $6 billion repurchase authorization from our board, approved in July. We believe additional repurchases of LVS equity through our share repurchase program will be meaningfully accretive to the company and its shareholders over the long term.

Speaker #3: We also paid our recurring quarterly dividend of $0.30 per share during the quarter. In addition, our Board has approved a 20% increase in our quarterly dividend to $0.36 per share, beginning in the first quarter of 2027.

Patrick Dumont: We also purchased additional shares of SCL during the quarter. The company's ownership percentage of SCL has reached 75.6% as of 30 September 2026. We look forward to continuing to utilize the company's share repurchase and recurring dividend programs to increase returns to shareholders. Thanks again for joining the call today and for your interest in the company. Now let's take some questions.

Speaker #3: We also purchased additional shares of SCL during the quarter. The company's ownership percentage of SCL has reached 75.6% as of September 30, 2026. We look forward to continuing to utilize the company's share repurchase and recurring dividend programs to increase returns to shareholders.

Speaker #3: Thank you again for joining the call today and for your interest in the company. Now, let's take some questions.

Operator: Certainly. Everyone at this time will be conducting a question and answer session. If you have any questions or comments, please press star one on your phone at this time. We do ask that while posing your question, please pick up your handset if you're listening on speakerphone to provide optimum sound quality. Also, we ask each participant to limit yourself to one question and one follow-up.

Speaker #2: Certainly. At this time, we will be conducting a question-and-answer session. If you have any questions or comments, please press star 1 on your phone.

Speaker #2: We do ask that while posing your question, please pick up your handset if you're listening on speakerphone to provide optimum sound quality. Also, we ask each participant to limit yourself to one question and one follow-up.

Operator: Once again, if you have any questions or comments, please press star one on your phone. Please hold while we poll for questions. Your first question's coming from Dan Politzer from JPMorgan. Your line is live.

Speaker #2: And once again, if you have any questions or comments, please press star 1 on your phone. Please hold while we poll for questions. Your first question is coming from Dan Palitzer from J.P. Morgan.

Speaker #2: Your line is live.

Dan Politzer: Hey, good afternoon, everyone. Thanks for taking my questions. Patrick, first off, I think in your prepared remarks, you alluded to some incremental softness in Macao and Singapore, particularly at the high-end of the market. Can you maybe break down how much of the recent step down you attribute to macro or cyclical factors versus any behavioral shift among that high-end customer base, particularly pertaining to some of the Chinese offshore wealth tax strategies or collections? Thanks.

Speaker #4: Hey, good afternoon everyone, and thanks for taking my questions. Patrick, first off, I think in your prepared remarks you alluded to some incremental softness in Macau and Singapore, particularly at the high end of the market.

Speaker #4: Can you maybe break down how much of that recent step-down you attribute to macro or cyclical factors, versus any behavioral shift among that high-end customer base?

Speaker #4: Particularly pertaining to some of the Chinese offshore wealth tax strategies, or collections. Thanks.

Patrick Dumont: Yeah. So first off, I do want to point out that there was softness at the high end in both of our markets. That was really the story for the quarter for us. I think we made a lot of strides in the things that we were trying to improve and create better experience for our customers. But when the customers don't show up, it is a little problematic. I think to sort of address your question, in terms of Asia macro, there are a bunch of things going on globally that may have an impact on tourism visitation, how people think about tourism or just their spending during the quarter. I also want to point out that the World Cup final was 19 July, so that did happen. There are many things in the global environment generally that create a lot of uncertainty in the quarter.

Speaker #3: Yeah, so first off, I do want to point out that there was softness at the high end in both of our markets, and so that was really the story for the quarter for us.

Speaker #3: I think we made a lot of strides in the things that we were trying to improve, and create better experiences for our customers. But when the customers don't show up, it's a little problematic.

Speaker #3: I think, to sort of address your question in terms of Asia macro, there are a bunch of things going on globally that may have an impact on visitation—how people think about tourism versus their spending during the quarter.

Speaker #3: I also want to point out that the World Cup final was July 19th, so that did happen. There are many things in the global environment, generally, that create a lot of uncertainty in the quarter.

Patrick Dumont: Just when uncertainty is introduced into people's lives and how they think about tourism, it may change their behaviors. So, I cannot really point to one thing that I would tell you that was the cause. We feel pretty confident that the future will not be impacted by this, just knowing what our customers like to do and how frequent they show up and what we have on offer. So we feel pretty good about how we are positioned. We also don't base our decisions on these cycles. We have a long-term view on growth in Asia. We really believe fundamentally that the trends of economic growth and wealth creation are there, and we believe that they will continue in the future. That is really what we are focused on. But this quarter was definitely aberrational in that regard.

Speaker #3: And just when uncertainty is introduced into people's lives and how they think about tourism, it may change their behaviors. So, I can't really point to one thing that I would tell you was the cause.

Speaker #3: We've grown pretty confident that the future will not be impacted by this, just knowing what our customers like to do, how frequently they show up, and what we have on offer.

Speaker #3: So, we feel pretty good about how we're positioned. We also know, based on our decisions on these cycles, we have a long-term view on growth in Asia.

Speaker #3: We really believe, fundamentally, that the trends of economic growth and wealth creation are there, and we believe that they'll continue in the future. And that's really what we're focused on.

Speaker #3: But this quarter was definitely aberrational in that regard.

Dan Politzer: Got it. Thanks. Just on Macao specifically, you have been through several stages of improvement in Macao, right? You improved your properties, you have been promoting a little bit more at a more competitive level, and now you have been investing in increasing your service. So where do you think you are in terms of the OPEX increases in Macao? Just given, obviously, there is concern on kind of the growth outlook for the market and where you sit in the expense structure. Thanks.

Speaker #4: Got it. Thanks. And just on Macau specifically, you've been through several stages of improvement in Macau, right? You improved your properties, you've been promoting a little bit more at a more competitive level, and now you've been investing in increasing your service.

Speaker #4: So, where do you think you are in terms of the OPEX increases in Macau? Just given, obviously, there's concern about the growth outlook for the market and where you sit in the expense structure.

Speaker #4: Thanks.

Patrick Dumont: First off, I think we're in our early days in terms of our product repositioning, and I think that's really important. As we get great product online and these high-value customers come to our properties because of it, the service will really matter. That will also grow our revenues, our gross gaming revenue and our EBITDA. Structurally, we're positioning ourselves to grow as we bring these products online, which address the segment that is there and that is strong. We just don't have all the product that we want to address it. I will tell you that we're making progress, as evidenced by our volume growth. The drag on our EBITDA was higher expenses, and the reinvestment strategy that we have, as I mentioned in the prepared remarks, is consistent.

Speaker #3: So, first off, I think we're in our early days in terms of our product repositioning, and I think that's really important. As we get great products online, and these high-value customers come to our properties because of it, the service will really matter.

Speaker #3: But that will also grow our revenues, our gross gaming revenue, and our EBITDA. And so, just structurally, we're positioning ourselves to grow as we bring these products online, which address the segment that is there and that is strong.

Speaker #3: We just don't have all the product that we want to address it. I will tell you that we're making progress, as evidenced by our volume growth.

Speaker #3: The drag on our EBITDA was higher expenses, and the reinvestment strategy that we have, as I mentioned in the prepared remarks, is consistent. So, as we continue to grow revenues, we'll gain operating leverage, and we'll see more flow-through.

Patrick Dumont: It's really as we continue to grow revenues, we'll gain operating leverage and we'll see more flow-through. Grant, I don't know if you have any other comments or anything you'd like to highlight.

Speaker #3: Grant, I don't know if you have any other comments or anything you'd like to highlight.

Grant Chum: I think the most important point for the quarter is we're able to gain revenue share across all segments whilst controlling the reinvestment. As Patrick referenced, we've remained very consistent in the reinvestment strategy. We have optimized the program significantly over the last 9 months, and we've been able to gain share partly because we've been able to invest back into the customer experience, both in terms of service levels as well as our event calendar. I think you're seeing some of the positive progress that we're making in that regard. With respect to operating expenses, I think we've talked about this before in the last quarter. We've been increasing our payroll as we've hired more gaming staff for the additional table hours as well as the sales distribution, and then also the hospitality staff to enhance the service levels.

Speaker #5: I think the most important point for the quarter is that we're able to gain revenue share across all segments, while controlling the reinvestment. As Patrick referenced, we've remained very consistent in the reinvestment strategy.

Speaker #5: We have optimized the program significantly over the last nine months. We've been able to gain share partly because we've invested back into the customer experience, both in terms of service levels as well as our event calendar.

Speaker #5: So, I think you're seeing some of the positive progress that we're making in that regard. With respect to operating expenses, I think we've talked about this before in the last quarter.

Speaker #5: We've been increasing our payroll as we've hired more gaming staff for the additional table hours, as well as for sales distribution. And then also the hospitality staff, to enhance the service levels.

Grant Chum: We see now that this cost increase is embedded in Q2 and Q3, and I would say that sequentially, we are essentially flat in terms of fixed expenses, and we would expect, obviously, the payroll would inflate by the cost of living adjustment allowances next year, but we don't anticipate significant increase in headcount from this point on.

Speaker #5: We see now that this cost increase is embedded in the second quarter and third quarter. And I would say that, sequentially, we are essentially flat in terms of fixed expenses.

Speaker #5: And we would expect, obviously, the payroll would inflate by the cost of living adjustment allowances next year. But we don't anticipate a significant increase in headcount from this point on.

Dan Politzer: Thanks so much for all the detail.

Speaker #4: Thank you so much for all the detail.

Operator: Thank you. Your next question is coming from Lizzie Dove from Goldman Sachs. Your line is live.

Speaker #2: Thank you. Your next question is coming from Lizzie Dove from Goldman Sachs. Your line is live.

Lizzie Dove: Hi. Thanks for taking the question. On Singapore, again, I am wondering in terms of your comments of, has anything changed about what you see as the run rate quarterly for this business? I know there was a period of time where it was $700 million hold adjusted plus or minus. Has anything changed there? On the point of whether this is kind of temporary or a change more structurally, anything you can share in terms of cadence throughout the quarter, whether that got better post-World Cup or even anything in terms of any October rebound? Thanks.

Speaker #6: Hi, thanks for taking the question. I'm from Singapore again. I'm wondering, in terms of your comments, has anything changed about what you see as the quarterly run rate for this business? I know there was a period of time where it was $700 million hold-adjusted, plus or minus.

Speaker #6: Is anything changed there? And on the point of whether this is kind of temporary or a change, more structurally, is there anything you can share in terms of cadence throughout the quarter? Whether that got better post-World Cup, or even anything in terms of any October rebound?

Speaker #6: Thanks.

Patrick Dumont: Thank you. In our mind, nothing has changed. This is a $2.7 billion, $2.8 billion run rate property in my mind. That is where we are focused. I think this quarter was aberrational. There were a bunch of things that happened in this quarter that we felt were unusual. I also feel like some of the sentiment out of the market for our highest end players, they did not visit. I think for us, this is something where product is still strong, response is still strong from the customers. We still have a view about that sort of baseline of EBITDA range that I just talked about, and hopefully growing from there in the future. That is really what we are focused on. I think there was particular softness in both July and September, just as you look across the quarter.

Speaker #3: Thank you. So in our mind, nothing's changed. This is a $2.7 billion, $2.8 billion run rate property in my mind. That's what we're focused on.

Speaker #3: I think this quarter was aberrational. There were a bunch of things that happened in this quarter that we thought were unusual. And then, I also feel like some of the sentiment out of the market for our highest-end players—they didn't visit.

Speaker #3: So I think for us, this is something where product is still strong. Response is still strong from the customers. We still have a view about that sort of baseline of EBITDA range that I just talked about.

Speaker #3: And hopefully growing from there in the future. That's really what we're focused on. I think there was particular softness in both July and September, just as you look across the quarter.

Patrick Dumont: We feel pretty good about how we are positioned, going forward in Q4.

Speaker #3: But we feel pretty good about how we're positioned going forward in Q4.

Lizzie Dove: Got it. Just one follow-up. Obviously, a really big repurchase number this quarter that has been ramping the last few quarters. Is this the new run rate, would you say, as you still work through these challenges in Singapore and Macau, or how should we think about any changes in terms of capital returns?

Speaker #6: Got it. And then just one follow-up. Obviously, a really big repurchase number this quarter—that's kind of been ramping up the last few quarters. Is this kind of the new run rate, would you say, as you still work through these challenges in Singapore and Macau?

Speaker #6: Or how should we kind of think about any changes in terms of capital returns?

Patrick Dumont: Yeah. First off, I just want to say that, we see meaningful value in both LVS and SCL equity, and we are going to continue to act on this belief. You saw that in full display this quarter. We intend to continue excess returns, sorry, excess cash flow to shareholders, with the repurchases representing the larger portion of our overall capital return, even more the dividends. You have heard us on prior calls. We have been focused on shrinking the share count over time. It is because we see meaningful value in LVS and SCL that we are acting so strongly. We see really long-term value creation in our ability to compound earnings and free cash flow growth per share just by reducing the share count, particularly at current prices.

Speaker #3: Yeah, so first off, I just want to say that we see meaningful value in both LVS and SDL equity, and we're going to continue to act on this belief.

Speaker #3: So you saw that full display this quarter. We intend to continue returning excess cash flow to shareholders, with the repurchases representing the larger portion of our overall capital return.

Speaker #3: So, more on the dividends— you've heard us on prior calls. We've been focused on triggering the share over time. It's because we see meaningful value in LVS and SDL that we're acting so strongly.

Speaker #3: We see really long-term value creation in our ability to compound earnings and free cash flow growth per share, just by reducing the share count—particularly at current prices. Our free cash flow and excess cash balance provides flexibility for us to opportunistically increase the amount of share repurchase based on market conditions.

Patrick Dumont: Our free cash flow and excess cash balance provides flexibility for us to opportunistically increase the amount of share repurchases based on market conditions, and that is what we did this quarter. For us, I think we really understand the importance of share repurchases, but we also understand the importance of maintaining our investment-grade rating, which we view as a competitive advantage. As you kind of think about it, we intend to stay within what we articulated previously in terms of our gross leverage target of approximately 2 times or 3 times. This is before the impact of any development-related debt. When you think about share repurchases, we sort of think about it like cash on hand. How do we think about return on capital, and how aggressive can we be based on the market, and you saw that this quarter.

Speaker #3: And that's what we did this quarter. For us, I think we really understand the importance of share repurchases, but we also understand the importance of maintaining our investment-grade rating.

Speaker #3: Which we've used in competitive advantage. So, as you kind of think about it, we intend to stay within what we articulated previously in terms of our gross leverage target of approximately two times to three times.

Speaker #3: But this is before the impact of any development related to that. So when you think about share repurchases, we sort of think about it like cash on hand: how do we think about return of capital, and how aggressive can we be based on the market?

Speaker #3: And you saw that this quarter.

Lizzie Dove: Great. Thank you.

Speaker #6: Great. Thank you.

Operator: Thank you. Your next question is coming from Shaun Kelley from Bank of America. Your line is live.

Speaker #2: Thank you. Your next question is coming from Sean Kelly from Bank of America. Your line is live.

Shaun Kelley: Hi, good afternoon, everyone, and thank you for taking my questions. Patrick or Grant, whoever is right to answer this. I want to go back to Singapore for a moment and just ask, Patrick, you mentioned a couple of times behavioral changes out there. I think one thing that jumps out in the numbers is mass market hold. The volume looks pretty good, actually, but the hold number kind of set back to levels that we haven't seen in a couple of years.

Speaker #7: Hi. Good afternoon, everyone, and thank you for taking my question. Patrick or Grant, whoever is best to answer this—I want to go back to Singapore for a moment and ask, Patrick, you mentioned a couple of times behavioral changes out there.

Speaker #7: I think one thing that jumps out in the numbers is mass market hold. The volume looks pretty good, actually, but the hold number kind of setbacks to levels that we haven't seen in a couple of years.

Shaun Kelley: Is the behavior aberration that we are seeing just that perhaps people are not feeling as good about the market and they are kind of getting up from sessions earlier or acting a little differently at the tables themselves, or is it more of, again, a direct traffic issue, and sort of why would that be weighing on maybe that hold figure, given that, again, the volume numbers, even the VIP volume number was not that far out of whack relative to what we have seen in the last quarter or two?

Speaker #7: So, is the behavioral aberration that we're seeing just that, perhaps, people are not feeling as good about the market, and they're kind of getting up from sessions earlier or acting a little differently at the tables themselves?

Speaker #7: Or is it more of a direct traffic issue, and sort of why would that be weighing on maybe that hold figure, given that, again, the volume numbers—even the VIP volume number—weren't that far out of whack relative to what we've seen in the last quarter or two?

Patrick Dumont: Yeah. It is an interesting thing. I will tell you, over the last couple of years, as we introduced the side bets, there was the opportunity for players to have a little bit more volatility, but for us to hold a little bit better. I think what happened at Marina Bay Sands is we just didn't hold well during the quarter. If you sort of look at that, it is very different from a year ago. That will impact our margin and our earnings. That hold was meaningful. But the good news is, the door swings both ways, right? There are times like a year ago in that quarter where we held really strongly. The great thing is the volumes are there, the customers are there.

Speaker #3: Yeah, it's really—it's an interesting thing. I will tell you, over the last couple of years, as we introduced the side bets, there was the opportunity for players to have a little more volatility.

Speaker #3: But for us to hold a little bit better. I think what happened in Rio de San is we just didn't hold well during the quarter.

Speaker #3: And if you sort of look at that, it's very different from a year ago. So that will impact our margin and our earnings.

Speaker #3: So that hold was meaningful. But the good news is the door swings both ways, right? There are times, like a year ago in that quarter, where we held really strongly.

Speaker #3: And the great thing is, the volumes are there. The customers are there. We had a lot of high-value patrons at our highest levels, just not show up this quarter.

Patrick Dumont: We had a lot of high-value patrons at our highest levels, just not show up this quarter at certain points, and you just don't get that revenue back. From our standpoint, volumes were good. We missed some customers, but the hold did impact our quarter. But the good news is, in the future, hopefully it won't. That is the nature of our business. When you have less offsetting play, the volatility on the bet size matters. For us, having these very high-value patrons that come in at Marina Bay Sands, it is a very specialized casino with the best patrons in the world, in our view, concentrated at the high end. There is volatility, both on the mass side and on the rolling side.

Speaker #3: At certain points, you just don't get that revenue back. So from our standpoint, volumes were good. We missed some customers, but the hold did impact our quarter.

Speaker #3: But the good news is, in the future, hopefully it won't. That's the nature of our business. And when you have less offsetting play, the volatility on the bet sides matters.

Speaker #3: And so, for us, having these very high-value patrons that come in at Rio de Sands—it is a very specialized casino with the best patrons in the world, in our view.

Speaker #3: Concentrated at the high end. There's volatility both on the Mass side and on the Rolling side. And if you go to page 11 in our deck, we lay out our AAC hold, our Smart Table hold.

Patrick Dumont: If you go to page 11 in our deck, we lay out our ETG hold, our smart table hold, and you can see that volatility. That is driven to some extent, as we said on prior calls, by patron decisions and how they choose to wager. But on the mass side, we didn't hold as well as we did in the prior year. It did impact us for the quarter. But hopefully in the future, we will continue to hold in a positive way.

Speaker #3: And you can see that volatility, and that's driven to some extent, as we said on prior calls, by patron decisions and how they choose to wager.

Speaker #3: But on the mass side, we just didn't hold as well as we did in the prior year. It did impact us for the quarter.

Speaker #3: But hopefully, in the future, we'll continue to hold in a positive way.

Shaun Kelley: Thanks for digging in on that. My follow-up would be, maybe Grant, your little bit longer-term perspectives on what is happening as it relates to the offshore trust issue. I think this has been a very common topic discussed for perhaps a broader, weaker market environment. My question to you is, do you agree with that? Do you think this is changing behaviors over there? More importantly, do you think this is kind of temporary or a moment in time as it relates to once that window kind of stops, which I think is in the next day or so, that perhaps behavior normalizes a bit with some of those mainland customers?

Speaker #7: Thanks for digging in on that. And just my follow-up would be, maybe Grant, your longer-term perspectives on what's happening as it relates to the offshore trust issue.

Speaker #7: I think this has been a very common topic discussed for perhaps a broader, weaker market environment. So my question to you is: Do you agree with that?

Speaker #7: Do you think this is changing behaviors over there? And more importantly, do you think this is kind of temporary, or just a moment in time as it relates to once that window kind of stops?

Speaker #7: Which I think is in the next day or so, that perhaps behavior normalizes a bit with some of those mainland customers.

Grant Chum: Sean, I think in reality, we have had many, many different policy changes, new initiatives that have, to varying degrees, impacted the Macao market, to a greater or lesser extent over the years. I do not think we can make a judgment on the specific measures that you just referenced.

Speaker #5: Sean, I think in reality we've had many, many different policy changes, new initiatives, that have to varying degrees impacted the Macau market to a greater or lesser extent over the years.

Speaker #5: I don't think we can make a judgment on the specific measures that you just referenced. What we can say is that during the quarter, the premium segment was a little softer.

Grant Chum: What we can say is that during the quarter, the premium segment was a little softer, but there was also plenty of indicators, certainly in the Sands China portfolio, to indicate that the underlying demand is still very solid and very deep. We had double-digit growth in patron count. We had high single-digit growth in property visitations. Like Patrick referenced, we had very strong gaming volume growth across all segments. Of course, some of that is market share gain, but we see in our portfolio pockets of strength in all segments. This quarter, we were able to capture some of the super high in the premium mass. Unfortunately, we played a little unlucky, and that affected our hold percentage and EBITDA and margin. But overall, we saw good progress there. We also experienced strong mid-tier and base mass growth in the properties that are more geared towards those segments.

Speaker #5: But there were also plenty of indicators, certainly in the Sands China portfolio, to indicate that the underlying demand is still very solid and very deep.

Speaker #5: We had double-digit growth in patron count. We had high single-digit growth in property visitations. Like Patrick referenced, we had very strong gaming volume growth across all segments.

Speaker #5: Of course, some of that is market share gain, but we see in our portfolio pockets of strength in all segments. This quarter, we were able to capture some of the super high in the premium mass.

Speaker #5: Unfortunately, we played a little unlucky, and that affected our Londoner hold percentage, EBITDA, and margin. But overall, we saw good progress there. We also experienced strong mid-tier and base mass growth in the properties that are more geared towards those segments.

Grant Chum: We are able to significantly outgrow the market at The Parisian and the Sands Macao. Also by product segment, you can see that our slot ETG segment grew 18% year-over-year in revenue. That is double the rate of the market growth of 9% in the overall Macao market. Lastly, when you look at a weaker consumption backdrop in China, our retail tenant sales growth still achieved 10% year-on-year growth, and it was a mixture of strength in different luxury segments as well as the mass retail segments. Overall, we see a lot of positives still in the underlying demand in visiting Macao and spending there. But yes, the spend per visitor, some of that has softened, particularly at the high end.

Speaker #5: So we're able to significantly outgrow the market at The Parisian and The Sands Macau. And also, by product segment, you can see that our slot ETG segment grew 18% year-over-year in revenue.

Speaker #5: That's double the rate of market growth of 9% in the overall Macau market. And then, lastly, when you look at a weaker consumption backdrop in China, our retail tenant sales growth still achieved 10% year-on-year growth.

Speaker #5: And it was a mixture of strength in different luxury segments, as well as the mass retail segments. So overall, we see a lot of positives still in the underlying demand for visiting Macau and spending there.

Speaker #5: But yes, the spend per visitor—some of that has softened, particularly at the high end.

Shaun Kelley: Thank you both.

Speaker #7: Thank you both.

Operator: Thank you. Your next question is coming from Brandt Montour from Barclays. Your line is live.

Speaker #1: Thank you. Your next question is coming from Brant Montour from Barclays. Your line is live.

Brandt Montour: Hi, everybody. Thanks for taking my question. I wanted to ask about the high end, just maybe more drilling in on Macao versus Singapore. It is hard for us to tell how much overlap you have between the high-end guests at Macao versus Singapore. But are you seeing any differences in behaviors between those 2 sets of inbound consumers or players? Length of stay, booking lead time, sort of maybe differences in the exit rate coming out of Q3 that makes you more favorable on one toward the other here.

Speaker #8: Hi, everybody. Thanks for taking my question. I wanted to ask about the high end, just maybe drilling in a bit more on Macau versus Singapore.

Speaker #8: It's hard for us to tell how much overlap you have between the high-end guests at Macau versus Singapore. But are you seeing any differences in behaviors between those two sets of inbound consumers or players?

Speaker #8: Length of stay, booking lead time, sort of, maybe, differences in the exit rate coming out of third quarter that make you kind of more favorable on one toward the other here.

Patrick Dumont: It is a great question. Just to highlight. Marina Bay Sands has a catchment area that is Southeast Asia. So, if you think about who comes as luxury inbound tourists into Singapore, a lot of that is driven by Southeast Asian people who have been successful. So Indonesia, Malaysia, Thailand, Vietnam, the surrounding areas, Cambodia, South Korea, and some Japan. The catchment area there is different from what you have in Macao, where the vast majority of visitors come from China or Hong Kong. On the super high end, there is some back and forth, but not a whole lot of overlap. The sentiment was consistent in both, but we do not know if it is the same reason or say, multitude of reasons or different reasons. We just know that we had a lot of very high-end patrons who just were not visiting as frequently.

Speaker #3: So it's a great question. Just to sort of highlight, Rio de Sands has a catchment area that is Southeast Asia. So if you think about who comes as luxury inbound tourists into Singapore, a lot of that is driven by Southeast Asian people who have been successful.

Speaker #3: So, Indonesia, Malaysia, Thailand, Vietnam, the surrounding areas, Cambodia, South Korea, and some Japan. And so the catchment area there is different from what you have in Macau, where the vast majority of visitors come from China or Hong Kong.

Speaker #3: And so, on the super high end, there's some back and forth, but not a whole lot of overlap. And so the sentiment was consistent in both, but we don't know if it's the same reason, or, say, a multitude of reasons or different reasons.

Speaker #3: We just know that we had a lot of very high-end patrons who just weren't visiting as frequently, and so that's what we saw this quarter in both places.

Patrick Dumont: That is what we saw this quarter in both places. I will tell you that this quarter, in our view, does not represent the true earnings power of our properties in both Marina Bay Sands or in Singapore, excuse me, or in Macao. So, long term, this is something that we think is particular to this quarter, and we see strength coming out of it.

Speaker #3: I will tell you that this quarter, in our view, does not represent the true earnings power of our properties, either in Rio de Sands or in Singapore.

Speaker #3: Excuse me, or in Macau. So, long-term, this is something that we think is particular to this quarter, and we see strength coming out of it.

Grant Chum: I think you covered it, I believe.

Speaker #5: I think you covered it. I believe.

Brandt Montour: Thanks for that, Patrick. On Macao, thinking about Q4, just seasonally, last Q4, you had a hit from the NBA year 1. This will be NBA year 2 this year. I imagine that maybe there's been some refinement in terms of or maybe the question is, has there been some refinement in the way that you're setting up operations for that, and how does that affect how we should think about Q4 seasonality, all else equal, for the calendar?

Speaker #8: Thanks for that, Patrick. And then on Macau, thinking about the fourth quarter, just seasonally, last fourth quarter you had a hit from the NBA Year One.

Speaker #8: This will be NBA year two this year. I imagine that maybe there's been some refinement, or maybe the question is, has there been some refinement in the way that you're setting up operations for that?

Speaker #8: And how does that affect how we should think about fourth quarter seasonality, all else equal, for the calendar?

Grant Chum: Thanks for the question. First of all, the NBA event was a tremendous success this year. It was across a number of categories, an even more successful games week than our highly successful one in 2025. We will discuss the financials of that in January, but from I think all of the media, the social media, and the reporting on the week, I think you can see just how successful it was for the entire city, across not just the excitement of the basketball, but also the activations we had across the whole resort in the fan zone, in the MICE events, and all of the different brand partners that came to Macao to promote their product and services in Macau.

Speaker #5: Thanks for the question. First of all, the NBA event was a tremendous success this year. It was across a number of categories and even more successful Games Week than our highly successful one in 2025.

Speaker #5: We will discuss the financials of that in January. But from, I think, all of the media, the social media, and the reporting on the week, I think you can see just how successful it was for the entire city—not just the excitement of the basketball, but also the activations we had across the whole resort, in the fan zone, in the MICE events, and all of the different brand partners that came to Macau to promote their products and services in Macau.

Grant Chum: If you talk about seasonality of Q4, typically it is a relatively stronger quarter for Macau because of the October Golden Week, and now also a lengthened Golden Week as a result of the NBA Games Week. Then typically December will also be relatively strong. So the seasonality would point to stronger Q3 and stronger Q4 compared to Q2. As to how this plays out in the current market conditions, where we've had a few months of contracting overall GGR growth, that remains to be seen. From a pure seasonality point of view, it is going to be typically a stronger quarter.

Speaker #5: If you talk about seasonality of the fourth quarter, typically it is a relatively stronger quarter for Macau, because of the October Golden Week, and now also a lengthened Golden Week as a result of the NBA Games week.

Speaker #5: And then, typically, December will also be relatively strong. So the seasonality would point to a stronger third quarter and a stronger fourth quarter compared to the second quarter.

Speaker #5: And then, as to how this plays out in the current market conditions, where we've had a few months of contracting overall GTR growth, that remains to be seen.

Speaker #5: But from a pure seasonality point of view, it is going to be, typically, a stronger quarter.

Patrick Dumont: Thanks, everyone.

Speaker #8: Thanks, everyone.

Operator: Thank you. Your next question is coming from Robin Farley from UBS. Your line is live.

Speaker #1: Thank you. Your next question is coming from Robin Farley from UBS. Your line is live.

Robin Farley: Thank you. That actually covered a lot of my questions about some of the dynamics between Macau and Singapore. My only other question is, you talked about OpEx increasing staffing hours at the tables and hospitality and sales. Just given that maybe it is unclear if it is not entirely clear what the factors are causing this softness, is that something you would revisit those OpEx levels to maybe be more in line with the trends here? Because I think it looks like October will be month number 5, maybe with year-over-year down in Macau. Just how do you think about those OpEx levels potentially needing to be adjusted? Thanks.

Speaker #2: Thank you. That actually covered a lot of my questions about some of the dynamics between Macau and Singapore. I guess my only other question is, you talked about OPEX, increasing staffing hours at the tables, and hospitality and sales.

Speaker #2: Just given that maybe it's unclear—if it's not entirely clear what the factors are causing this softness—is that something you would revisit those OPEX levels to maybe be more in line with the trends here?

Speaker #2: Because I think it looks like October will be kind of month number five, maybe, with year-over-year down in Macau. So, just how do you think about those OPEX levels potentially needing to be adjusted?

Speaker #2: Thanks.

Patrick Dumont: We are actually focused on investment for growth, not on cutting our personnel that we just hired. I think we are very excited about the future of Macau. The way we are sort of looking to make all this converge is we are underway in our investment cycle to renovate and create higher value products for our patrons, but we need the people to run them. We need the team members to operate them to be successful. So we have hired those teams now so we can train them, get them up to speed, and make sure they are offering seamless, flawless service and focused on our customers and in our culture in a very strong way as the time the product comes online.

Speaker #3: We're actually focused on investment for growth, not on cutting our personnel that we just hired. I think we're very excited about the future of Macau.

Speaker #3: And the way we're sort of looking to make all this converge is, we're underway in our investment cycle to renovate and create higher-value products for our patrons.

Speaker #3: But we need the people to run them. We need the team members to operate them to be successful. So we've hired those teams now so we can train them, get them up to speed, and make sure they're offering seamless, flawless service and focused on our customers and our culture in a very strong way.

Speaker #3: As the time the product comes online. And so it's a simultaneous story of capital investment to create the products from the rooms that we have, the suites that we have, and the space that we have in Macau, to a higher level to attract these higher value patrons.

Patrick Dumont: It is a simultaneous story of capital investment to create the products from the rooms that we have, the suites that we have, and the space that we have in Macau to a higher level to attract these higher value patrons. At the same time, train and create the opportunities for them to be in our property and have the experiences they need to come back and to spend. We have to do both. While we are carrying this additional OpEx, we actually view this as part of the additional investment we need in the future to grow and address the most important segments that are coming to Macau today.

Speaker #3: And at the same time, train and create opportunities for them to be in our property and have the experiences they need to come back and spend.

Speaker #3: And so we have to do both. And so, while we're carrying this additional OPEX, we actually view this as part of the additional investment we need in the future to grow and address the most important segments that are coming to Macau today.

Robin Farley: Okay, great. Thank you.

Speaker #2: Okay. Great. Thank you.

Operator: Thank you. Your next question is coming from Stephen Grambling from Morgan Stanley. Your line is live.

Speaker #1: Thank you. Your next question is coming from Steven Grambling from Morgan Stanley. Your line is live.

Stephen Grambling: Thanks. I wanted to dig in on the CapEx plans a little bit, just starting with Macau. I am curious, how has your view of what is maintenance versus growth CapEx evolved and perhaps where you see ROI moving to and where the best returns may be had as you think about where you are spending? On Singapore, a related question as we think about the $8 billion spend and the potential returns on the next project. How do you think about bookends both in terms of ultimate construction costs and returns and what might weigh that one way or another?

Speaker #4: Thanks. I want to dig in on the CAPEX plans a little bit, just starting with Macau. I'm curious—how has your view of what is maintenance versus growth CAPEX evolved, and perhaps where do you see ROI moving to, and where do you think the best returns may be had as you consider where you're spending?

Speaker #4: And then on Singapore, kind of a related question as we think about the $8 billion spend and the potential returns on the next project.

Speaker #4: How do you think about bookends, both in terms of ultimate construction costs and returns, and what might weigh that one way or another?

Grant Chum: Steven, I will take the question on Macau CapEx. If you look at our portfolio, which is, we started developing the buildings from 2004 to now, our depreciation charge is somewhere in the region of $750 million to $800 million. So spending around $300 million on maintenance CapEx is reasonable, and that is reflected in the deck on slide 21 of Dan's deck. In terms of the development CapEx, if you look at our number for 2027, there are really three key projects that we can reference. Firstly, we have the highest ROI projects in there, which in our minds, include The Venetian renovation, then as well as the Conrad renovation and rebranding into a Londoner themed hotel. Those are the most critical projects for us if we are to continue in our product investment and elevation to capture the most important segments in the market.

Speaker #5: Steven, I'll take the question on Macau CAPEX. If you look at our portfolio, which is we started developing the buildings from 2004 to now, our depreciation charge is somewhere in the region of $750 to $800 million.

Speaker #5: So spending around $300 million on maintenance CAPEX is reasonable. And that's reflected in the deck on slide 21 of Dan's deck. In terms of the development CAPEX, if you look at our number for 2027, there are really three key projects that we can reference.

Speaker #5: Firstly, we have the highest ROI projects in there, which in our minds include the Venetian renovation. Then as well as the Conrad renovation and rebranding into a Londoner-themed hotel.

Speaker #5: Those are the most critical projects for us if we are to continue in our product investment and elevation to capture the most important segments in the market.

Grant Chum: Then there is a third flagship project, which is for the concession commitment, which is, as you know, we have a botanic garden project that we are looking to accelerate and bring into Macau earlier than we had previously anticipated. We are making good progress on the design. It is going to be one of the most innovative and new tourism landmarks in Macau. So we are very excited to bring that forward and deliver that for the city over the coming years.

Speaker #5: Then there's a third flagship project, which is for the concession commitment, which is, as you know, we have a botanic garden project that we are looking to accelerate and bring into Macau earlier than we have previously anticipated.

Speaker #5: And we're making good progress on the design. It is going to be one of the most innovative and new tourism landmarks in Macau, so we're very excited to bring that forward and deliver it for the city over the coming years.

Patrick Dumont: In regards to Singapore, I do not think there is a better market to deploy capital in scale in our industry at the highest spend. So at page 29 of our deck, we laid out the MBS expansion project development costs. I do want to highlight that of the $8 billion, $2 billion is actually land premiums that in effect you can amortize over time. But we just wanted to include everything related to development. The other thing is, we are spending a very significant amount on an arena, which will be what we hope is the most important live entertainment venue in the region. It will be technologically advanced. It will have VIP areas, hospitality areas that are more akin to what you would see at the top arenas in the US versus ones that are in Asia, and that will be a differentiator.

Speaker #4: And in regards to Singapore, I don't think there's a better market to deploy capital at scale in our industry at the highest end.

Speaker #4: So, on page 29 of our deck, we sort of laid out the MBS expansion project development costs. I do want to highlight that, of the $8 billion, $2 billion is actually land premiums, and in effect, you can amortize it over time.

Speaker #4: But we just wanted to include everything related to development. The other thing is, we're spending a very significant amount on an arena, which will be what we hope is the most important live entertainment venue in the region.

Speaker #4: It will be technologically advanced. It will have VIP areas, hospitality areas that are more akin to what you'd see at the top arenas in the US versus ones that are in Asia.

Speaker #4: And that will be a differentiator. The other thing is, it will be integrated and connected to all the amenities of the Marina Bay Sands program.

Patrick Dumont: The other thing is, it will be integrated and connected to all the amenities of the Marina Bay Sands program. So for us, the ability to use this arena not only for live entertainment and to draw tourism into Singapore, which has been evidenced by Taylor Swift and by other large performances that have occurred there, but also to use it as a MICE space and to use it for other forms of entertainment is very powerful. So when you look at the way we think about returns here, it will not only benefit the new developments and the new tower we are building, but it will also enhance the way that we draw high-value tourists into Singapore to benefit Marina Bay Sands, and actually the surrounding area and the Marina Bay precinct. So the way we think about returns is that this will be very positive.

Speaker #4: And so, for us, the ability to use this arena not only for live entertainment and to draw tourism into Singapore—which has been evidenced by Taylor Swift and by other large performances that have occurred there—but also to use it as a MICE space and to use it for other forms of entertainment is very powerful.

Speaker #4: So when you look at the way we think about returns here, it will not only benefit the new developments and the new tower we're building, but it will also enhance the way that we draw high-value tourists into Singapore to benefit Marina Bay Sands.

Speaker #4: And actually, the surrounding area and the Marina Bay Precinct. So the way we think about returns is that this will be very positive. Right?

Patrick Dumont: If the market continues the way that it is today and we have these conditions, we believe this will be very successful. We believe very strongly in the future growth of high-value tourism to Singapore because of the focus of the government there, the work they've done, and their continued investment in great tourism assets and connectivity to the surrounding region. We think we're in a great position to take advantage of the, call it the structural benefits of being in Singapore and the long-term prospects for wealth creation in Asia and the importance of Singapore in that. For us, the returns we believe will be very strong, and we think that having the connectivity back to the arena from Marina Bay Sands and our MICE facility will only enhance those offerings as well.

Speaker #4: If the market continues the way that it is today and we have these conditions, we believe this will be very successful. We believe very strongly in the future growth of high-value tourism to Singapore because of the focus of the government there and the work that they've done, and their continued investment in great tourism assets and connectivity to the surrounding region.

Speaker #4: We think we're in a great position to take advantage of, call it, the structural benefits of being in Singapore and the long-term prospects for wealth creation in Asia.

Speaker #4: And the importance of Singapore in that. And so, for us, the returns, we believe, will be very strong. We think that having the connectivity back to the arena for Marina Bay Sands and our MICE facility will only enhance those offerings as well.

Stephen Grambling: Fair enough. That's helpful. Maybe one very quick follow-up would just be, how much of the construction costs are kind of locked in at this point, or is there some wiggle room that could happen as we look closer to the opening?

Speaker #4: Fair enough. That's helpful. Maybe one very quick follow-up would just be: how much of the construction costs are kind of locked in at this point?

Speaker #4: Or is there some wiggle room that could happen as we look closer to the opening?

Patrick Dumont: Yeah. I think right now, I think what you're asking is there inflation because of the current market environment? We haven't seen it yet, but we're monitoring it closely. A good portion of it is locked in, but there's still a lot to buy, so we're being very thoughtful and very cautious now about the current conditions and how we look to approach some of the fit-out costs and some of the construction costs that we have to deal with.

Speaker #3: Yeah, I think right now, what you're asking is: Is there inflation because of the current market environment? We haven't seen it yet, but we're monitoring it closely.

Speaker #3: So a good portion of it is locked in, but there's still a lot to buy. So we're being very thoughtful and very cautious now about the current conditions.

Speaker #3: And how we look to approach some of the fit-out costs and some of the construction costs that we have to deal with.

Stephen Grambling: Great. Thank you.

Speaker #4: Great. Thank you.

Operator: Thank you. Your next question is coming from Steve Pizzella from Deutsche Bank. Your line is live.

Speaker #1: Thank you. Your next question is coming from Steve Pazella from Deutsche Bank. Your line is live.

Steve Pizzella: Hey, good afternoon and thank you for taking our questions. On reinvestment in Macau, can you talk about what you are seeing in the market from a competitive standpoint? Has that changed at all over the last couple of quarters?

Speaker #2: Hey, good afternoon, and thank you for taking our questions. On reinvestment in Macau, can you talk about what you are seeing in the market from a competitive standpoint?

Speaker #2: Has that changed at all over the last couple of quarters?

Grant Chum: Thank you for the question. The market remains very competitive. That is no secret. We, on the other hand, have continued to optimize our reinvestment program. That has been a focus strategy since the Q1 of the year. We are achieving sequentially, a lower level of reinvestment and capturing higher market share. We will continue in that effort. As Patrick said, we will remain consistent in our approach. We obviously have to respond if market dynamic competition and reinvestment levels change significantly. At this point, we do not see it, but that is not to say the market is not competitive. It remains highly competitive, but we have not seen significant escalation in the reinvestment levels, and that is why we have been able to do what we are doing, which is to optimize reinvestment, maintain or reduce, and at the same time, continue to gain market share.

Speaker #5: Thank you for the question. The market remains very competitive; that is no secret. We, on the other hand, have continued to optimize our reinvestment program.

Speaker #5: That's been a focused strategy since the first quarter of the year. And we are achieving, sequentially, a lower level of reinvestment and capturing higher market share.

Speaker #5: So we will continue in that effort, as Patrick said, we will remain consistent in our approach. We obviously have to respond if market dynamic competition and reinvestment levels change significantly.

Speaker #5: At this point, we don't see it. But that's not to say the market is not competitive. It remains highly competitive. But we haven't seen significant escalation in the reinvestment levels and that's why we've been able to do what we're doing, which is to optimize reinvestment, maintain or reduce and at the same time continue to gain market share.

Steve Pizzella: Okay. Thank you. That is helpful. Then just staying in Macau, wondering if you would be able to help us think about what the size of the World Cup impact was the last couple of quarters as we think about the normalized run rates here. Thank you.

Speaker #2: Okay, thank you. That's helpful. And then just staying in Macau, I'm wondering if you would be able to help us think about what the size of the World Cup impact was the last couple of quarters, as we think about the normalized run rates here?

Speaker #2: Thank you.

Grant Chum: It is difficult to pinpoint. It is very clear that we had a sharper decline in June and July than we did in August and September. That is about all we can say at this point.

Speaker #5: It's difficult to pinpoint. It's very clear that we had a sharper decline in June and July than we did in August and September. That's about all we can say at this point.

Operator: Thank you. Your next question is coming from Peter Supino from Wolfe Research. Your line is live.

Speaker #1: Thank you. Your next question is coming from Peter Sapino from Wolfe Research. Your line is live.

Peter Supino: Good afternoon, everybody. A question about The Venetian renovation. I am wondering, as that renovation has progressed, have any of the renovated rooms returned to inventory? If so, are you seeing any early impact, especially on higher value gaming activity?

Speaker #6: Good afternoon, everybody. A question about the Venetian renovation. I'm wondering if that renovation has progressed. Have any of the renovated rooms returned to inventory?

Speaker #6: And if so, are you seeing any early impact, especially on higher-value gaming activity?

Patrick Dumont: I will tell you that anecdotally, the response has been very strong. I will let Grant give some additional comments, but I think for us, credit to our design team and our development team for the high quality of work they are doing and their ability to identify what is advanced in the market and what the market feels is very luxurious and aspirational. Because the response has been very strong, not only in this renovation, but in other renovations we have been doing. So we are very pleased about the progress of our capital investments and where our portfolio is headed in terms of aesthetics, design, and aspiration. I will turn it over to Grant.

Speaker #4: I will tell you that, anecdotally, the response has been very strong. I'll let Grant give some additional comments, but I think, for us, credit goes to our design team and our development team for the high quality of work they're doing.

Speaker #4: And their ability to identify what's advanced in the market and what the market feels is very luxurious and aspirational because the response has been very strong, not only in this renovation, but in other renovations we've been doing.

Speaker #4: So we're very pleased about the progress of our capital investments, and where our portfolio is headed in terms of aesthetics, design, and aspiration. And I'll turn it over to Grant.

Grant Chum: It's still very early days, but Patrick is absolutely right. We've received very strong feedback from the customers who have experienced the new suites, from a design, from a functionality. Of course, it's an iconic hotel suite layout that Sheldon brought to Macau. It's famous for its spacious layout. Everyone knows this room, and that presents an exciting opportunity for us because when this is all fully upgraded and renovated and modernized, it's going to do even better than it has been doing in the last few years. If you look at the rooms out of inventory, we had about 400 rooms out this quarter. It will increase slightly to about 500 next quarter as we continue to renovate, including the multi-bay Paiza suites. But the initial feedback from the rooms that have come back, which is around 600, has really, I would say, surpassed our initial expectations.

Speaker #5: It's still very early days, but Patrick is absolutely right. We've received very strong feedback from the customers who have experienced the new suites, from a design, from a functionality, of course, it's actually an iconic hotel suite layout that Sheldon brought to Macau.

Speaker #5: It's famous for its spacious layout. Everyone knows this room. And that's presents an exciting opportunity for us because when this is all fully upgraded and renovated and modernized, it's going to do even better than it has been doing in the last few years.

Speaker #5: If you look at the rooms out of inventory, we had about 400 rooms out this quarter. It will increase slightly to about 500 next quarter as we continue to renovate, including the multi-bay Paisa suites.

Speaker #5: But the initial feedback from the rooms that have come back, which is around 600, has really, I would say, surpassed our initial expectations.

Grant Chum: You can see also that we have been managing this renovation better in terms of customer mix, and we've seen that sequential improvement in mass revenue at The Venetian versus Q2. So we'll continue, and the team will continue to manage the rest of the program. But we are very excited at the prospect of having all of these new suites back by early 2028.

Speaker #5: And you can see also that we have been managing this renovation better in terms of customer mix, and we've seen that sequential improvement in mass revenue at Venetian versus the second quarter.

Speaker #5: So we'll continue, and the team will continue to manage the rest of the program. But we are very excited at the prospect of having all of these new suites back in by early 2028.

Patrick Dumont: Thanks, all.

Speaker #6: Thanks, all.

Operator: Thank you. Your next question's coming from Steve Wieczynski from Stifel. Your line is live.

Speaker #1: Thank you. Your next question is coming from Steve Wasinski from Stiefel. Your line is live.

Steve Wieczynski: Yeah. Hey, guys. Good afternoon. Patrick, two bigger picture questions for you. First of all, you talked about your balance sheet at this point, your investment-grade balance sheet giving you somewhat of an advantage relative to some of your peers. So wondering with where overall gaming valuations currently are, which obviously is somewhat depressed, maybe give us your updated thoughts in terms of your appetite for M&A at this point.

Speaker #6: Yeah. Hey, guys. Good afternoon. Patrick, two bigger picture questions for you. So first of all, you talked about your balance sheet at this point, your investment-grade balance sheet, giving you somewhat of an advantage relative to some of your peers.

Speaker #6: So, wondering with where overall gaming valuations currently are—which, obviously, are somewhat depressed—maybe give us your updated thoughts in terms of your appetite for M&A at this point.

Patrick Dumont: I think we are really interested in buying more of our company. I think we have great assets. We are in the two best markets. We feel really strongly about the future of the Asian economic growth and wealth creation story. So our share repurchases are focused on owning more of the great LVS assets that Sheldon built for us. We have been blessed with these assets that are in very privileged markets, very special markets with unbelievable catchment areas and just a huge amount of investment going on around them and it is creating economic growth. So for us, I think we are focused on owning more of LVS and not really focused on M&A.

Speaker #4: I think we're really interested in buying more of our company. I think we have great assets. We're in the two best markets. We feel really strongly about the future of the Asian economic growth and wealth creation story.

Speaker #4: And so, our share of purchases are focused on owning more of the great LVS assets that Sheldon built for us. We've been blessed with these assets that are in very privileged markets, very special markets, with unbelievable catchment areas.

Speaker #4: And just a huge amount of investment going on around them that's creating economic growth. So for us, I think we're focused on owning more of LVS and not really focused on M&A.

Steve Wieczynski: Got you. Patrick, I think the answer is going to be no to this, but as you look at Macau today and where visitation levels are, spend levels are, do you think the market at this point has too much gaming capacity and is somewhat oversaturated? Or do you believe we are just essentially stuck in this bubble and the market is clearly, down the road, in a position to use the existing capacity that is currently in place?

Speaker #6: Gotcha. And then Patrick, I think the answer is going to be no to this, but as you look at Macau today and where visitation levels are, spend levels are, do you think the market at this point has too much gaming capacity and is somewhat oversaturated, or do you believe we are just essentially stuck in this bubble and the market is clearly, down the road, in a position to use the existing capacity that is currently in place?

Patrick Dumont: First off, I think both markets would benefit long-term from more high-level hospitality capacity. I think that will only help both markets grow over time. I think when you think about Macau and you realize the number of hotel rooms that are there, and you realize that its catchment area, it is China and Hong Kong, it feels like it is undersupplied. So from our standpoint, it is something where we have to focus on bringing more high-value tourists into the Macau market over time. The higher value segments and premium customers are out there in size, but they have to have the right experience available and know that it is there. So it starts with great product, it starts with great service, and all the range of luxury amenities that we have. So in my mind, it is not that it is a capacity issue, it is that we have this great product.

Speaker #4: So, first off, I think both markets would benefit long-term from more high-level hospitality capacity. I think that will only help both markets grow over time.

Speaker #4: I think when you think about Macau and you realize the number of hotel rooms that are there, and you realize that its catchment area is China and Hong Kong, it feels like it's undersupplied.

Speaker #4: So from our standpoint, it's something where we have to focus on bringing more high-value tourists into the Macau market over time. The higher value segments and premium customers are out there insize, but they have to have the right experience available and know that it's there.

Speaker #4: And so it starts with great product. It starts with great service, and all the range of luxury amenities that we have. So in my mind, it's not that it's a capacity issue.

Patrick Dumont: So in my mind, it is not that it is a capacity issue, it is that we have this great product.

Speaker #4: It's that we have this great product. It's needs to be globally competitive. Our high-end customers are very sophisticated. They know great hotel rooms. They know great restaurants.

Patrick Dumont: It needs to be globally competitive. Our high-end customers are very sophisticated. They know great hotel rooms, they know great restaurants, they know great retail, they know great entertainment. We have to present all of that to be competitive. For us, it is not a question about capacity being too small. It is a question about what type of capacity is there and how competitive are we globally for high-value tourists, and how do we invest to ensure that those tourists choose us over anyone else whenever they think about a trip. For a lot of these customers, it is pretty frequent. They are very affluent. They travel a lot. They enjoy what Macau has. They love what Singapore has. For us, it is about making sure we capture their attention and we capture their tourism dollars.

Speaker #4: They know great retail. They know great entertainment. And so we have to present all of that to be competitive. For us, it's not a question about capacity being too small.

Speaker #4: It's a question about what type of capacity there is, and how competitive are we globally for high-value tourists? And how do we invest to ensure that those tourists choose us over anyone else whenever they think about a trip?

Speaker #4: And for a lot of these customers, it's pretty frequent. They're very affluent. They travel a lot. They enjoy what Macau has. They love what Singapore has.

Speaker #4: And for us, it's about making sure we capture their attention and we capture their tourism dollars. And for me, it's not really a supply issue because all of the supply in Macau is not the same.

Patrick Dumont: For me, it is not really a supply issue because all of the supply in Macau is not the same. All the supply in Singapore is not the same.

Speaker #4: All the supply in Singapore is not the same.

Steve Wieczynski: Understood. Appreciate the color. Thank you.

Speaker #6: Understood. Appreciate the color. Thank you.

Operator: Thank you. Your next question is coming from David Katz from Jefferies. Your line is live.

Speaker #1: Thank you. Your next question is coming from David Katz from Jefferies. Your line is live.

David Katz: Afternoon. Thanks for taking my question. I know hypotheticals are not always the favorite choice, but listening to the commentary about buybacks and where the stock is currently trading.

Speaker #6: Good afternoon. Thanks for taking my question. I know hypotheticals are not always the favorite choice, but listening to the commentary about buybacks, where the stock is currently trading, and the lack of recognition for the future—is there any thought in the future to sort of not having a public stock, given the strength of your balance sheet and the ability to do that while still funding your business, etc.?

David Katz: The lack of recognition for the future. Is there any thought in the future to not having a public stock, given the strength of your balance sheet and the ability to do that and still fund your business, et cetera? Could we ever be in a world like that?

Speaker #6: Could we ever be in a world like that?

Patrick Dumont: I do not know how to answer that question other than we are going to keep buying back shares. I do not think there is any interest at this time to take the company private. It is not something that we talk about. In my mind, this is a company with a lot of growth potential. We are happy to have public equity. We think it is the right way to go. We think it allows the public markets to ride along with us as we grow and create success over time. We are very happy with it. I think from our standpoint, the market is looking at us a certain way today, and we are very happy to have a repurchase program to take advantage of the share prices where they are today, and we will continue shrinking our share count and shareholder value. That is what we are focused on.

Speaker #4: I don't know how to answer that question, other than we're going to keep buying back shares. I don't think there's any interest at this time to take the company private.

Speaker #4: It's not something that we talk about. In my mind, this is a company with a lot of growth potential. We're happy to have public equity.

Speaker #4: We think it's the right way to go. We think it is allowed the public markets to ride along with us as we grow and create success over time.

Speaker #4: And we're very happy with it. I think from our standpoint, the market is looking at us a certain way today. And we're very happy to have a purchase program to take advantage of the share prices where they are today.

Speaker #4: And we'll continue shrinking our share count and shareholder value. That's kind of what we're focused on.

Patrick Dumont: That is what we are focused on.

David Katz: Appreciate you addressing it. As my follow-up quickly, just going back to Singapore, I think you mentioned some of the elements that impacted the quarter being World Cup, a little bit of hold. Could you just go back and walk us through, because I think earlier on you said several issues were impacting Singapore, and how are you seeing the competitive landscape? I mean, you have one really. What are you seeing from your competitor in that market? Thank you.

Speaker #6: I appreciate you addressing it. And as my follow-up question, just going back to Singapore, I think you mentioned some of the elements that impacted the quarter—being the World Cup, a little bit of hold.

Speaker #6: Could you just go back and walk us through because I think earlier on you said several issues were impacting Singapore. And how are you seeing the competitive landscape?

Speaker #6: Right? I mean, you have one, really. What are you seeing from your competitor in that market? Thank you.

Patrick Dumont: Maybe I will answer the questions in reverse. I think Marina Bay Sands competes with every great tourism destination in Asia. The people that come to Marina Bay Sands and come to Singapore can go anywhere, right? They are affluent. There are flights all over Asia. They are choosing Marina Bay Sands for the experience we provide. We compete with everybody. When you think about luxury, high-value tourism experiences, there is a lot of different places you can go. The reason why we keep investing and the reason we are so focused on service, on high-quality amenities, great retail, great food and beverage, great entertainment, is because we have to out-compete everybody. We have to get everyone's attention, and we have to make sure they want to come back, and we have to do that every time they visit.

Speaker #4: So maybe I'll answer the questions in reverse. I think Marina Bay Sands competes with every great tourism destination in Asia. The people that come to Marina Bay Sands and come to Singapore can go anywhere.

Speaker #4: Right? They're affluent. Their flights are all over Asia. They're choosing Marina Bay Sands because of the experience we provide. We compete with everybody. So when you think about luxury, high-value tourism experiences, there are a lot of different places you can go.

Speaker #4: So the reason why we keep investing and the reason we're so focused on service, on high-quality amenities, great retail, great food and beverage, great entertainment is because we have to outcompete everybody.

Speaker #4: We have to get everyone's attention, and we have to make sure they want to come back. And we have to do that every time they visit.

Patrick Dumont: For us, we do not think about a single competitor in our market, outside of our market directly. It is everybody. We are competing with everyone all the time. The way we win is through the investments that we have made and that we will keep making. That is why we are so focused on upgrading the facilities we have there all the time. That is why we are so focused on IR2 by adding the arena, by adding entertainment as a component of what we can offer, by increasing our MICE program. We are constantly remixing our retail. We are constantly reinventing our food and beverage offerings. All of these things are designed to captivate the attention of our highest value tourists and the people who come to our building. That is how we think about our positioning within Singapore and, to be fair, across Asia. Sorry, what was the other question?

Speaker #4: So, for us, we don't think about a single competitor in our market, outside of our market directly. It's everybody. We're competing with everyone all the time.

Speaker #4: And the way we win is through the investments that we've made and that we will keep making. That's why we're so focused on upgrading the facilities we have there all the time.

Speaker #4: That's what we're so focused on in IR2: by adding the arena, by having entertainment as a component of what we can offer, by increasing our MICE program, we're constantly remixing our retail, and we're constantly reinventing our food and beverage offerings.

Speaker #4: All of these things are designed to captivate the attention of our highest-value tourists and the people who come to our building. So that's kind of how we think about our positioning within Singapore, and to be fair, across Asia.

Speaker #4: I think—sorry, what was the other question?

Patrick Dumont: Sorry, what was the other question?

David Katz: With respect to Singapore in the quarter, you said several things. Talked about World Cup, talked about hold. Walk us through that list.

Speaker #6: So with respect to Singapore and the quarter, you said several things: talk about World Cup, talk about hold. Just walk us through that list.

Patrick Dumont: Oh, sure. Yeah, sorry about that.

Speaker #4: Oh, sure. Yeah, sorry about that. I'll just go back to the points that we made previously. We just had less visitation from our highest-value patrons.

David Katz: No.

Patrick Dumont: Yeah, I'll just go back to the points that were made previously. We just had less visitation from our highest value patrons. That was the primary driver. You can attribute it to World Cup. You can attribute it to some of the other things that are out there that I'm sure everyone reads. We can't tell you which one it is. We just know that our highest value patrons visited less. And to be fair, we did experience some more hold.

Speaker #4: That was the primary driver. You can attribute it to the World Cup. You can attribute it to some of the other things that are out there that I'm sure everyone reads.

Speaker #4: We can't tell you which one it is. We just know that our highest value patrons visited less. And to be fair, we did experience a little hold.

David Katz: Thank you.

Speaker #6: Thank you.

Operator: Thank you. Our next question's coming from Trey Bowers from Wells Fargo. Your line is live.

Speaker #1: Thank you. Our next question is coming from Trey Bowers from Wells Fargo. Your line is live.

Trey Bowers: Hey, guys. I sound like a broken record on this, but wondering if you could just comment on the promotional intensity in Macau and if you're seeing any kind of opening up, and if no, if it's still very heavy promotions, what kind of breaks that cycle as we go forward? Thanks.

Speaker #5: Hey guys, I sound like a broken record on this, but I'm wondering if you could just comment on the promotional intensity in Macau, and if you're seeing any kind of opening up. And if not, if it’s still very heavy promotions, what kind of breaks that cycle as we go forward?

Speaker #5: Thanks.

Grant Chum: I think we talked about that just a moment ago. The market remains very competitive. We see no letup in the reinvestment intensity. However, we also don't see any major escalation, and that's allowed us to optimize our reinvestment levels. Whilst doing that, we're still gaining market share, and we will continue to do that. We will, of course, respond if we need to, if that level of competitiveness changes in either direction. As to what actually will help the market to moderate the levels of reinvestment, it's primarily going to be a function of market revenue growth. We do see that there are some indicators where different operators will be looking to fine-tune their reinvestment levels, even in the current market condition, because the profit margin of the industry is simply not where it was. In a nutshell, nothing has really changed in the competitive intensity.

Speaker #4: I think we talked about that just a moment ago. The market remains very competitive. We see no let-up in the reinvestment intensity; however, we also don't see any major escalation.

Speaker #4: And that's allowed us to optimize our reinvestment levels. And whilst doing that, we're still gaining market share. And we will continue to do that.

Speaker #4: We will, of course, respond if we need to, if that level of competitiveness changes in either direction. As to what actually will help the market to moderate the levels of reinvestment, it's primarily going to be a function of market revenue growth.

Speaker #4: But we do see that there are some indicators where different operators will be looking to fine-tune their reinvestment levels, even in the current market condition, because the profit margin of the industry is simply not where it was.

Speaker #4: So, in a nutshell, nothing has really changed in the competitive intensity. We continue to gain share and optimize reinvestment. If revenues make a big comeback in recovery levels, then we should see the reinvestment levels moderate naturally.

Grant Chum: We continue to gain share and optimize reinvestment. If revenues make a big comeback in recovery levels, then we should see the reinvestment levels moderate naturally.

Trey Bowers: Great. As a follow-up, just one more on Singapore. I think earlier, Patrick, when you responded to the question about the investment, you highlighted one, you're building out a lot of space for your highest value customers, and I would think that's the tower. Then two, you're building out things like the arena that would maybe appeal to that more mass table play, the non-rolling drop volume. One, is that the right way to think about it? Then two, just in terms of that incremental tower appealing to that high-value customer, it would seem like if you're experiencing a quarter like you just did, where sometimes those customers just don't show up, maybe help us understand why you need that excess capacity. Is it that there's incremental customers out there that you just need to entice to the property with something new and more exciting?

Speaker #5: Great. And then as a follow-up, just one more on Singapore. I think earlier, Patrick, when you responded to the question about the investment, you kind of highlighted, one, you're building out a lot of space for your highest value customers.

Speaker #5: And I would think that's the tower, and then, two, you're building out things like the arena that would maybe appeal to that more mass table play, the non-rolling chip volume.

Speaker #5: One, is that kind of the right way to think about it? And then, two, just in terms of that incremental tower, appealing to that high-value customer, it would seem like if you're experiencing a quarter like you just did, where sometimes those customers just don't show up.

Speaker #5: Maybe help us understand why you need that excess capacity. Are there incremental customers out there that you just need to entice to the property with something new and more exciting? I'll stop there.

Trey Bowers: I'll stop there. Just help us kind of bridge that divide between those two competing directions. Thanks.

Speaker #5: Just help us kind of bridge that divide between those two competing directions. Thanks.

Patrick Dumont: So, really appreciate the question. Our highest tiers of customers have been growing, both in Singapore and in Macau, and they are younger, and they are people we have never seen before. There has been a lot of wealth creation in Asia over the last 5 years. A lot of the people who are creating this wealth want to experience travel, want to experience tourism, want to experience hospitality at the highest level. They want to experience great things, and they are coming to us. Our problem is, particularly during peak periods, we do not have enough capacity. We see that today, never mind 4 years from now when this thing opens. Our goal is to really create the best hotel that has ever been created. We hope it is the best hotel in the world. We have benchmarked against a lot of high-end properties, including our own.

Speaker #4: So, really appreciate the question. Our highest tiers of customers have been growing, both in Singapore and Macau. They are younger, and they're people we've never seen before.

Speaker #4: There's been a lot of wealth creation in Asia over the last five years. And a lot of the people who are creating this wealth want to experience travel, want to experience tourism, want to experience hospitality at the highest level.

Speaker #4: They want to experience great things. And they're coming to us. And our problem is, particularly during peak periods, we don't have enough capacity. And we see that today.

Speaker #4: Never mind, four years from now when this thing opens. And so, our goal is to really create the best hotel that's ever been created.

Speaker #4: We hope it's the best hotel in the world. We've benchmarked against a lot of high-end properties including our own. And our goal is to create something that includes wellness, that has a residential feel, and that feels very special and very unique in terms of its approach, in terms of its service levels.

Patrick Dumont: Our goal is to create something that includes wellness, that has a residential feel, and that feels very special and very unique in terms of its approach, in terms of its service levels. That will allow us to have more of these high-value customers show up more frequently. If you remember, when we opened the renovation in early 2025, we took our suite count up from 132 to about 770. That allowed us to have this step function growth in earnings, because we were able to accommodate these high-value patrons in a way that we never did before. They are out there. Now we will have more of that capacity. In a quarter like this, as I said before, I believe this was aberrational. We had people who did not show up, but the good news is they are out there.

Speaker #4: That will allow us to have more of these high-value customers show up more frequently. If you remember, when we opened the renovation in early 2005, we took our suite count up from 132 to about 770.

Speaker #4: And that allowed us to have this step-function growth in earnings, because we were able to accommodate these high-value patrons in a way that we never did before.

Speaker #4: They are out there, and now we'll have more of that capacity. And so, in a quarter like this—as I said before—I believe this was aberrational.

Speaker #4: We had people who didn't show up, but the good news is they're out there. And we have great products. We have great services. And now, with this tower coming online in a little under five years, we will have the ability to have more of them in the building with more unique experiences and take advantage of the growth and wealth creation in Asia, and the experiences that these wealthy people want to have.

Patrick Dumont: We have great products, we have great services, and now with this tower coming online in a little under 5 years, we will have the ability to have more of them in the building with more unique experiences and take advantage of the growth and wealth creation in Asia and the experiences that these wealthy people want to have. I will tell you that arena is going to be very special, because if you look at the amount of entertainment tourism that Singapore does today and the capacity of hotel rooms around us and the great infrastructure to travel from all around Southeast Asia into Singapore, we feel that being able to program that arena will be a very powerful tourism driver and a very powerful MICE space. The good news is, depending on stage configuration, it has got about 15,000 seats.

Speaker #4: And I will tell you that that arena is going to be very special, because if you look at the amount of entertainment tourism that Singapore does today, and the capacity of hotel rooms around us, and the great infrastructure to travel from all around Southeast Asia into Singapore, we feel that being able to program that arena will be a very powerful tourism driver—and a very powerful MySpace.

Speaker #4: And the good news is, depending on stage configuration, it's got about 15,000 seats. If the stage is really big, a little bit less, but that's the idea.

Patrick Dumont: If the stage is really big, it will have a little bit less, but that is the idea. We will be able to put our highest value patrons in there in very special VIP areas. We will be able to have local Singaporeans have an unbelievable music experience and everyone in between, including our mass customers that show up. We are very excited about that as an asset that will help create high-value tourism visitation, not only to our property, but also to Singapore.

Speaker #4: And so we'll be able to put our highest-value patrons in very special VIP areas. We'll be able to give local Singaporeans an unbelievable music experience, and everyone in between, including our mass customers that show up.

Speaker #4: And so we're very excited about that as an asset that will help create high-value tourism visitation, not only to our property, but also to Singapore.

Trey Bowers: Appreciate the color. Thank you.

Speaker #5: Appreciate the caller. Thank you.

Operator: Thank you. Your next question is coming from Timothy Chao from Citigroup. Your line is live.

Speaker #2: Thank you. Your next question is coming from Timothy Chow from City Group. Your line is live.

Timothy Chao: Thank you, management, so much for taking my question. My first question is about actually the mass hold rate, because I see that, especially for The Londoner and also Marina Bay Sands, the mass hold rate does seem unusually low. I understand that management does not really adjust for the mass segment for the hold rate, but I am just wondering if we say this is actually mostly luck driven or are we seeing shortening of stay from players?

Speaker #6: Thank you, management, so much for taking my question. My first question is actually about the mass hold rate, because I see that especially for London and also Marina Bay Sands, the mass hold rate does seem unusually low.

Speaker #6: I understand that management doesn't really adjust for the mass segment or for the hold rate, but I'm just wondering—would you say this is actually mostly luck-driven, or are we seeing changes in shots and length of stays from players?

Grant Chum: Thanks for the question. For Macau, yes, the lower hold we experienced at The Londoner was primarily due to playing unlucky at the super high-end segment of the premium mass. To be fair, in Marina Bay Sands, we also experienced some negative luck factor within the non-rolling drop.

Speaker #4: Thanks for the question. For Macau, yes, the lower hold we experienced at the Londoner was primarily due to playing unlucky at the super high-end segment of the premium mass.

Speaker #4: And then to be fair, Marina Bay Sands, we also experienced some negative luck factor within the non-rolling drop.

Timothy Chao: Thank you so much for the color. The other thing is about the Chinese offshore tax issue and overall tightening of outbound investments and the impact on both Macau and Singapore. I believe management has already touched on this topic a little bit earlier, but just trying to get more color from you, if I may. Do you think the hit we are seeing now is something structural or temporary that we are still hopeful that the gaming appetite from Chinese players will recover soon? Thank you.

Speaker #6: Thank you so much for the call. The other thing is about the Chinese offshore tightening of outbound investments, and the impact on both Macau and Singapore. I believe management has already touched on this topic a little bit earlier, but I'm just trying to get more color from you, if I may.

Speaker #6: Do you think the hit we are seeing now is something structural or temporary? Do we still hope that the gaming appetite from Chinese players will recover soon?

Speaker #6: Thank you.

Grant Chum: We don't have any specific comment on the tax issue. There is a confluence of many macro factors that are converging that can impact the demand levels. But I think as Patrick has referenced very well, there's huge amount of demand creation through the wealth creation and growth over the past several years, and that will continue, and that will positively impact both markets. We're very confident of that. That's why we continue to make the investments we're making in the product uplift, as well as the infrastructure and the service levels of our business. So we continue that strategy, and we are very confident that the demand cycle will come through in our favor over time.

Speaker #4: We don't have any specific comment on the tax issue. There is a confluence of many macro factors that are converging, which can impact demand levels.

Speaker #4: But I think, as Patrick has referenced very well, there's a huge amount of demand creation through the wealth creation and growth over the past several years.

Speaker #4: And that will continue, and that will positively impact both markets. We're very confident of that, and that's why we continue to make the investments we're making in the product uplift, as well as the infrastructure and the service levels of our business.

Speaker #4: So, we continue with that strategy, and we are very confident that the demand cycle will come through in our favor over time.

Timothy Chao: Thank you so much for the color.

Speaker #6: Thank you so much for the call.

Grant Chum: Thank you.

Operator: Thank you. That completes our Q&A session. Everyone, this concludes today's event. You may disconnect at this time, and have a wonderful day. Thank you for your participation.

Speaker #3: Thank you.

Speaker #5: Thanks. Thank you.

Speaker #2: That completes our Q&A session. Everyone has concluded today's event. You may disconnect at this time and have a wonderful day. Thank you for your participation.