Prepared remarks
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Thank you, Paul. 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. 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. We will refer to that presentation during the call. Finally, for the Q&A session, we ask those with interest to please post one question and one follow-up question 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 Dumont.
Afternoon, everyone, and thank you for joining the call. I want to start off by saying our strategic priorities remain clear and consistent. We will continue to invest with discipline, with the fundamental objective of creating meaningful shareholder returns over the long term. Turning to our current quarter, we again delivered strong financial results at Marina Bay Sands in Singapore, generating EBITDA of $689 million for the quarter. If we had held as expected in a rolling play, our EBITDA would have been $37 million lower, or $652 million. Performance was achieved despite the seasonally softer tourism demand that exists in both Singapore and Macau in the second quarter of each calendar year. There is another factor to note. There was a decrease in visitation to both Marina Bay Sands and our Macau properties by our high-value patrons during the World Cup football tournament. It was very noticeable in June given the trajectory of the businesses in both markets earlier in the quarter. Despite these headwinds, mass gaming revenues at Marina Bay Sands grew 5% for the quarter, compared to the second quarter of 2025, which highlights the resilience and underlying strength of the business. Singapore remains an ideal market for high-value tourism spending. Our focus on creating unique and memorable entertainment and hospitality experiences for our guests continues to generate outstanding financial performance. Our results this quarter reinforce our view that Marina Bay Sands' structural earnings power has been elevated following our significant product investments, suite renovations, service enhancements, and the successful execution of our premium customer strategy. We remain confident that our market-leading product, service, and focus on driving high-value tourism will enable us to create unrivaled hospitality experiences for the world's most discerning customers and deliver additional growth at Marina Bay Sands in the years ahead. As I shared last quarter, the company's fundamental operating strategy relies on three critical pillars: our people, our product, and our service. When we get these three pillars optimized, as we have at Marina Bay Sands, we are positioned to drive high-value tourism to the market and to create outstanding financial and operating performance. We remain excited about the growth opportunity presented by the Marina Bay Sands expansion. The expansion will meaningfully increase our premium suite capacity, service, and entertainment offerings, including the debut 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 the expansion early 2031, subject to the required government approvals. Now let's turn to Macau. Our $430 million in EBITDA for the quarter was negatively impacted by the exceptionally low VIP rolling hold of 1.35% for the quarter. If we had held as expected in our rolling play, our EBITDA would have been $87 million higher, or $517 million for the quarter. The actions that we have taken to improve our service levels and the customer experience are clearly achieving some early success. We are encouraged by our progress during the second quarter. Franchise growth in gaming volumes meaningfully exceeded the growth in gaming volumes in the Macau market overall. When compared to the second quarter of 2025, we delivered strong growth in gaming volumes in all segments. Our rolling volume was up 73% year over year. Our non-rolling drop was up 15% year over year. And our slot and ETG handle was up 30% year over year. Sands China's mass gross gaming revenue grew 8% for the quarter, year over year, twice as fast as the overall market's 4% mass GGR growth for the quarter. Sands China total GGR grew by 4% for the quarter, compared to the second quarter of 2025, while the Macau market's total gross gaming revenue was flat for the quarter. If we had held as expected in our rolling play, Sands China's total GGR growth would have been 14% year over year. Sands China's VIP rolling chip volume share reached a market-leading 26% in the quarter. Turning to our reinvestment strategy, we have been optimizing reinvestment levels since the beginning of the year. I wanted to highlight our approach to reinvestment has remained consistent over the last several quarters. Our approach has not changed. If you look at the metrics, reinvestment as a percentage of revenue did increase during this quarter. The increase as a percentage of revenue was driven by changes in business mix and lower hold percentage on our non-rolling play. Our goal is to continue 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, we have elected over the last year to invest in additional table operating hours, increase sales, marketing and customer service personnel, and enhance levels of customer service. The increased investment in operating expenses related to our efforts should begin to level off in the second half of 2026. These investments are critical to the achievement of our long-term objectives of being able to service our customers to the highest standards and to create unique and memorable hospitality experiences for our guests. We remain steadfast in our belief that successful execution of our initiatives will support growth in both revenue and profitability over time. The growth in the Macau market remains primarily driven by the premium segment. The competition in that segment remains intense, and luxurious suite product coupled with outstanding service levels are critical to success. We remain singularly focused today on matching that suite and room product with the service levels the most discerning and valuable customers in Macau increasingly demand. We retain our goal of reaching $700 million in quarterly EBITDA, and beyond over time, as we fully implement our investment and operating strategies and as the Macau market grows in the future. I want to turn to the product pillar in Macau. As I highlighted last quarter, we are focused on investing in the highest return projects over the next three years in order to create the best opportunities to increase cash flow. Renovation of the Venetian rooms and suites commenced in March, and work is progressing. While we have some product coming back into inventory across the work period, our target is to have all 2,900 rooms and suites completely refurbished and reintroduced by Chinese New Year 2028. We will also introduce new premium-focused gaming salons and related amenities as a component of the Venetian investment program. The meaningful patron volume growth we have seen in The Londoner and Grand Suites at Four Seasons provide support for these investments. It is important to note that the work at The Venetian will not create significant disruption throughout the portfolio. The scale of our portfolio will allow us to serve customers at other properties and elsewhere in each resort while work is in progress. Nothing we are doing as we invest in the portfolio over the next several years will hinder our ability to use our scale advantages to outperform in the non-premium segment should spending in that segment accelerate in the future. We will use our scale advantage and product advantage together with service level improvements and targeted incentives to effectively compete in every market. We expect growth in EBITDA and EBITDA margins as revenues grow over time. Turning to our program to return capital to shareholders, we repurchased $787 million of LVS stock during the quarter. We also paid our recurring quarterly dividend of $0.30 per share. We have now repurchased 16.3% of the company's outstanding shares over the last 11 quarters. Our Board of Directors recently increased our repurchase authorization to $6 billion. 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. While we did not purchase any additional shares of Sands China during this quarter, we do continue to see value in both the LVS and Sands China names. The company's ownership of Sands China remained at 74.8% as of 6/30/2026. We look forward to continuing to utilize the company's share repurchase program 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.
Questions and answers
Thank you. Ladies and gentlemen, the floor is now open for questions. If listening on speakerphone today, please pick up your handset to provide optimum sound quality. Also, we ask each participant to limit yourself to one question and one follow-up. Please hold a minute while we poll for questions. The first question today is coming from Elizabeth Dove from Goldman Sachs. Elizabeth, your line is live.
Hey, thanks for taking the question. I wanted to ask as it relates to performance, whether it be in Singapore, kind of hard to parse it out. But how much of it you think is macro or consumer-driven, to the extent there was also maybe some World Cup impact versus just execution or kind of missteps or investment needed in the property. That was probably a lot to unpack there, but any kind of details on that would be helpful.
Yeah. Sure. First off, I just want to start out by saying this quarter does not represent the true earnings power of our properties at Sands China. Hold had an impact. The World Cup had an impact. You mentioned investment for growth in the future.
If you look at some of the things we have invested in recently—The Londoner Grand, Londoner Court, what we have done with Grand Suites at Four Seasons—the customers are there, and the productivity is there if the product is right and the service is right. So we feel like our investment programs position us well for future growth. This quarter was not what we wanted to see. But when you think about the $517 million given the whole normalization, we feel pretty good about where we are headed, given the growth in volumes across all segments. To me, that is just a signal of the effect that the new service model is taking: that we are now able to service the highest level patrons at a higher level. So while we did not get the hold that we wanted this quarter, the volumes were there. The visitation was there. And even though the World Cup had an impact, we felt like we are headed in the right direction.
Got it. And then just one—oh, sorry. Go on. The market was tracking very well in Macau in April and May, and Sands China's gaming volumes were very strong. In fact, May was an all-time high for us in Sands China in terms of monthly mass GGR. June was clearly softer and there was some impact from the World Cup. But as we look overall for the quarter, we see very strong underlying trends across all of our different gaming segments. In the VIP rolling segment, we were gaining share significantly during the quarter, up 73% year over year, whilst the market was flattish in terms of our table games and non-rolling, we were impacted somewhat by the lower hold percentage, especially in June. And then in slot and ETG, we clearly outperformed the market with 21% revenue growth for the quarter. So overall, if you take account of the lower hold percentage and non-rolling and the business mix, we were able to achieve gains in every segment and market share year over year, and remain consistent in terms of market share sequentially with very similar reinvestment levels once you adjust for those hold percentage factors and business mix sequentially. And I do want to come back to MBS as well. I just want to highlight that this was an incredibly powerful quarter in several of our segments. But the key is we were impacted by the World Cup there as well given the high-value nature of our patrons. As we look to that asset in the future, we see a very strong market and very strong visitation. For us, we are going to continue to invest there because we see the long-term potential of growth in Singapore.
Got it. And just to follow up on that and maybe just to stick with Macau for a second. I appreciate you said this is not what you want to be or could be. And I know in the past you have talked about $700 million in quarterly EBITDA. Last quarter, $600 million came into the mix. Now, I guess, this is maybe a bit of a onetime quarter, but closer to $500 million on a hold-adjusted basis. And so, I know you do not give guidance, but is there anything you are seeing in the market or on a company-specific basis changing how you think about what that right run rate is for Macau at least over the next kind of year or two?
No. I think our target is still $700 million. I think, historically, what we have always seen is that February has always been our softest quarter, and so we talked about that on our last earnings call. This quarter had some seasonality built into it, and so we saw that here. But I also think that if we held better, we would be having a little bit of a different discussion on certain things. For us, we look to the progress we are making in the market. If you look at the growth that we have had year over year, if you look at the fact that we did this through the World Cup cycle, I think there are some positive things there that we look to. Our goal is to reach $700 million. We have some work to get there, but we feel like the process in place will keep us working toward that direction. We know what we need to do.
Thank you. The next question will be from Daniel Politzer from JPMorgan. Daniel, your line is live.
Good afternoon, and thanks for the question. First, I wanted to touch on Singapore. Obviously, you talked a bit about World Cup and seasonality there. Given where the property is, and I think we are kind of anniversarying that first big quarter there, do you feel like you are at a place where the property maybe reverts back to historical seasonality? And broadly, just in terms of the seasonality discussion, could you remind us of how you think about it from Macau as well while we are on the topic?
Yeah. Sure. I think what we said before is big step-function growth in Singapore was the switch from the suite product from the room product. So we went from 135 suites to 770, and that was the step function in terms of our product pillar to be able to accommodate the substantial growth that you saw in run rate. We also added a significant service component. Credit to the team there for revamping our service model, adding food and beverage, and, very importantly, the service levels on the casino floor as well as some of the novel games and the overall presentation. All those things combined allowed us to have the growth that you saw. Now the growth is going to be based on yielding and more incremental growth as we continue to invest in the property. There are still things that we are doing that we think will create growth over time, particularly in patron types that are higher value. For us, looking forward in Singapore, it is going to be about continuing to serve these customers. We have a very strong base there. Visitation matters for the highest-end customers. It is concentrated. Whether it is World Cup or other events, some of those people were not in the building this quarter. When they show up, we do incredibly well. When we play favorably, our margins look extraordinary. When some of those people do not show up in scale, or they do not play in high volume, we do not hold very well and margins can look lower. We are heading in the right direction. I do not know that there is a gaming business that grows in a straight line, but I would like to believe that this business is heading in the right direction. We are also seeing the benefit of a lot of wealth creation in Southeast Asia. So we feel very good about the long-term prospect of both our investment and the trajectory of the business there.
Got it. And then on Macau, talking a little bit more about that $700 million quarterly EBITDA run rate and the path to getting there, can you give a sense of the capital or the time frame, the capital that you have to still commit or the time frame you think is reasonable to get to that level? Obviously, this quarter was not ideal, but how should we think about the path forward towards that $700 million?
So I think first off, this quarter was impacted by seasonality. We talked about that. We saw the World Cup impact. But as we continue to invest, and get higher-value patron-fulfilling inventory, we will be able to grow our market share and revenues. This is a multiyear investment strategy. As we update our portfolio and invest for the highest-value premium mass segments we do really well in, that is a very deep part of our database. Nothing has changed from our strategy, from our approach, and from the timelines that we talked about before.
I think there are some capital projects where we still have a long way to go in terms of ramping up Londoner. It has done very well so far. As you can see, both The Londoner and Four Seasons are even for this quarter above where we were in 2019 on a normalized basis, which is very positive evidence of how these product upgrades can drive revenue growth and market share gains. Secondly, we are very focused on the upcoming completion of the Venetian renovation, which would take us all the way to early 2028. We should start to see the benefits of those new suites as we progressively get more critical mass of these suites throughout 2027, and certainly by the end of that we will have a completely refreshed hotel product with upgraded premium gaming sections.
Thank you so much. Thanks, Daniel.
Thank you. The next question will be from Shaun Kelley from Bank of America. Shaun, your line is live.
Hi, good afternoon, everyone. Thank you for taking my question. Patrick or Grant, maybe just a comment on the nature of the growth in the premium segment you are seeing in Macau. This is pretty significant hold volatility we are seeing at some properties, and just kind of curious if this is going to be the nature of the market moving forward, given concentration in a smaller set of customers, or if this is more of an outlier and driven by the activity and concentration that drove this kind of hold volatility. We tend to think for LVS in particular, that averages out across a much bigger base of business.
Clearly, we did not see luck this quarter. What is really important is we have product and service now that allows us to attract the most important patrons in both markets. That is a big step. Sometimes we get that play in Singapore, sometimes in Macau, sometimes in both. When we have less of it, the volatility can work against us given bet size and concentration. Over time, this business works in our favor.
This is the largest hold adjustment we have ever had in the history of Macau. The good news is it happened after the pandemic at a time when many thought high-level VIP play would not show up in Macau. Now we are earning it. Over time, by taking this play, providing the right service, and keeping these patrons engaged, we believe we will be more successful. There is an old expression: the gate of luck swings both ways. For some of these patrons, we tend to think about play across our entire portfolio: do we have the right amount of offsetting play across properties? The important thing is the most discerning patrons want to stay with us and play high volumes with us. The bad thing is we got beat really badly this quarter, and we also got beat on the mass side. There is a belief in gaming that when customers win, it is an investment in future marketing and retention. This quarter did not work in our favor. Hopefully, in the future it will.
Just to add, if you look at both VIP rolling and the premium mass segment, we have gained significant market share at the very top end given the strategies we have deployed since May of last year. We were #4 in the rolling segment a year ago, and now we are #1 with 26% volume share. Part of that share gain comes from the super VIP segment. We have been very successful at Marina Bay Sands as well. In terms of premium mass, Macau growth is driven by that segment; there is very high-end premium mass play to capture and we have been capturing more than our fair share in the last six months. Unfortunately, this quarter the luck did not play our way. We are gaining customers and volume, and the luck will even out in the end.
Perfect. Thank you both. And then my follow-up: Patrick, you mentioned the run rate and investments being made on operating expense side in Macau. Just a quick thought on Singapore: is this a general good run rate where incremental top-line gains will be matched relatively closely with investments on the bottom line? Or how is the operating run rate and operating expense looking there?
We are really happy with the roughly 50% EBITDA margin at Marina Bay Sands. We have a fixed cost base focused on providing the highest levels of service. We can do very well with more visitation from high-value patrons and their play. We have seen higher margins in quarters when play was favorable. In the long run, we are happy to make investments to attract and keep our highest-level patrons. Sometimes these customers require promotional spend or provisions, but we believe in the margin structure over time. There is significant opportunity to continue to invest, optimize, and grow given the strong customer interest and the growing number of high-value tourists from Southeast Asia who want to go to Singapore. We will continue investing behind this thesis for the long term.
Thank you. The next question will be from Stephen Grambling from Morgan Stanley. Stephen, your line is live.
Thanks. I just want to go back to make sure I understood. So I think your promo was down sequentially, still up year over year. Is it down sequentially predominantly because of the World Cup and maybe those customers not showing up, and they tend to require higher reinvestments? So we have not quite seen a change in the promotional environment yet, or has it potentially ratcheted up? Curious if there's any way to dig into what you are seeing competitively.
Steven, just to clarify: in Macau, our reinvestment level sequentially remained flat—second quarter versus first quarter—when we adjust for the hold percentage and the difference in business mix. Year over year, we see a higher level of reinvestment because we started to adopt a more aggressive reinvestment strategy in the second half of last year.
Right. But you had the World Cup in there, which I imagine if you are not having some people that require higher reinvestment, maybe that would suggest that perhaps it is even ticking up sequentially just as we think about the underlying. So are you seeing any change in the competitive dynamic that you can pull back the onion a bit?
There is no change in our approach or the reinvestment levels when you look at it sequentially. Since the start of the year, we have been optimizing the level of reinvestment into all of these customer ADT segments. We were successful in the first quarter: we were able to adjust some reinvestment levels and still achieve market share gain. In the second half, we will continue that optimization and aim to earn a higher gross margin from this higher level of revenues.
Thank you. The next question will be from Robin Farley from UBS. Robin, your line is live.
Great, thanks. I want to go back to a comment you made during the call where you said that reinvestment would level off in the second half. I wanted to make sure I am understanding that correctly. Leveling off meaning it will be flat year over year, or that the rate of increase in the second half would be about the same rate of increase year over year that we saw in the first half and not a higher rate of increase?
Just to clarify, Robin, there are two different topics: reinvestment and operating expenses. For reinvestment, we are looking to continue to optimize reinvestment as a proportion of revenue. That process started at the beginning of the year and we've had some success and will continue into the second half. In terms of operating expenses, we had some OpEx growth during the first half of 2026, but we do expect the rate of OpEx growth to moderate into the second half. We have been investing in table operating hours, the sales network distribution, and service elevation. The big step changes in those investments have largely happened, and into the second half and into 2027 we expect a more moderate rate of OpEx growth, which should allow us to achieve operating leverage on the EBITDA margin as revenues grow.
And is that saying that the second half rate of increase in OpEx will be slower? I just wanted to clarify. Also, on the World Cup, are you seeing a bounce back, pent-up demand, or is it back to normal levels? In other words, is the slowdown just during the World Cup and how things look now versus that period?
The final was on Sunday, so it is a little early to tell about snapback. This was an extraordinary sporting event and it captured global attention. Many of our high-value patrons followed the World Cup closely, and that pulled tourism away from our two core markets. We are optimistic about the long term and expect our patrons to come back. We will track visitation closely, but given everything just ended, it is too early to assess snapback.
Thank you. The next question will be from Brandt Montour from Barclays. Brandt, your line is live.
Grant, thanks, everybody. The mass table drop stat that you guys gave—15% in the quarter—would you be willing to break that out by month so we can get a sense of how your performance was trending ex-hold before the World Cup started?
The quarter? I am sorry, I could not hear the question. Could you say that again, please?
Sorry about that. So math table drop—the quarter was up 15%. You highlighted that, Patrick, in your prepared remarks. Would you break that out by month, just so we can see how performance was trending excluding hold before the World Cup?
We typically do not provide a monthly breakout, but directionally we were impacted in June.
And then in your slides you have a slide about Macau airport passenger volume. It took a big step back in the second quarter, more in line with the second quarter of last year. This is a seasonally weak quarter, but first quarter this year had a big step up. It seems like capacity had taken a structurally higher step since COVID. When you talk to partners in transportation, is that temporary, seasonal, will it rebound, or is something else driving that?
You are referring to slide 39 where we talk about Macau airport monthly passenger volume, correct?
If you look at it, it is not too much different from the second quarter of 2025. The takeaway is there is seasonality in visitation to Macau. Second quarter is seasonally softer, and international visitation during the quarter, especially in June, did slow down.
For a number of reasons, and also affected by the World Cup in June, it is not a surprise that airport passenger volume is not as strong as the second half of last year. This is one airport; Hong Kong and Zhuhai airports are not reflected here. Airlines and carriers adjust supply to demand, and when people are traveling less in certain months, you will see softness in passenger volumes.
Thank you. The next question will be from Chad Beynon from Macquarie. Chad, your line is live.
Afternoon. Thanks for taking my questions. First on capital allocation: your buybacks were again at an elevated pace for the second quarter in a row. Can you talk about availability or appetite to stay at this pace versus reverting to maybe where you were in 2025?
We see meaningful value in both LVS and Sands China equity and will continue to act on that belief; you can see it this quarter. Share repurchases are a great way to return capital, shrink the share count, and are accretive to EPS. Our board has been very supportive—we appreciate that—and they approved the $6 billion authorization, and our goal is to use it. We see a lot of long-term value in our markets and in the investments we are making, and we will continue to be aggressive in how we think about repurchases.
Appreciate it.
Thank you. The next question will be from George Choi from Citigroup. George, your line is live.
Thank you very much for taking my questions. If I remember correctly, you started optimizing your reinvestment in June of last year. Are you comfortable with the way it is going now versus your competitors? More importantly, do you believe you can get back to the EBITDA share that you used to attain without changing your current reinvestment strategies?
Thanks, George. On reinvestment, yes, we started to make a step change in the second half of last year. Over the last four quarters we have been more efficient in how we reinvest, especially in higher-end customer segments. In the first half of this year, we've been able to continue to gain share while staying at a lower level of reinvestment versus fourth quarter of last year. We are happy with how it is working out, but we will stay alert to market changes and adjust if necessary. The goal is to continue to optimize into the second half and earn a higher gross margin from this higher level of revenue.
Our goal is to get back to our EBITDA market share, which is why we are investing. To do that we need to see market growth, continue our reinvestment program and approach, and bring on higher-value product like The Londoner Grand, The Londoner Court, and the Grand Suites at Four Seasons. As we complete the Venetian renovation and other planned investments, and sustain high service levels, we will have the opportunity to grow back to that level of EBITDA.
Thank you very much. As a follow-up, you have a very strong lineup of events and concerts in the next several months which is encouraging. How would you describe the current level of competition for top-tier artists to perform at your Venetian and Londoner arenas from other venues in Macau?
Competition in entertainment content is fairly intense across the region; acts stopping in Asia often have choices of cities. Within Macau there is more entertainment now and therefore more competition for similar acts. That said, we have a very strong lineup into the second half and feel good about our event calendar and our ability to drive all segments of the business. We have seen positive impact from these events in the first six months, and the second half looks very strong, particularly as we build into August, September, and then the NBA games in October.
Thank you. The next question will be from Trey Bowers from Wells Fargo. Trey, your line is live.
Hi, it is Zach Silverberg on behalf of Trey. Thank you for taking our questions. First, on MBS, theoretical VIP hold in slide 11 ticked up quarter over quarter despite a change in visitation mix in June. Can you unpack what drove theoretical hold to tick up quarter over quarter despite those changes?
Welcome to the Sands earnings call, Zach. In terms of the 4.2% theoretical hold, how patrons show up and how they play matters for theoretical hold. Last quarter on the $18 billion of rolling volume, we held 3.6% which was a barbell: many patrons playing at higher theoretical hold and a few concentrated patrons playing high volume at lower theoretical hold. This quarter we had $9.3 billion in volumes that were exceptional for a Q2, and the players in the building played more side bets and higher-volatility bets which generated the 4.2% theoretical hold for the quarter.
Thanks. For my follow-up, on Macau OpEx, how do you strike the right balance between OpEx and the rolling volume share gains you have seen? Is there an opportunity to lean in more on service levels given you are taking a high-end share? How do you divide the additional headcount investments?
The biggest headcount increases came from investing in additional operating hours at table games, which feeds all segments and leverages our scale advantage with our large table base. Sales distribution and service elevation investments are more targeted at premium segments but also benefit premium mass. All three components—table hours, sales distribution, and service elevation—have started to benefit our revenue capture and position us better for the future as product upgrades complete over the next two years. We are happy with the step changes we have made; the bulk of additional investments have already been made, but we will continue to tweak as needed according to market opportunities.
Thank you. The next question will be from Joseph Stauff from SIG. Joseph, your line is live.
Thank you. Patrick, I have a follow-up on World Cup. Can you possibly size the World Cup impact in July relative to what you saw in June?
Sorry, I cannot precisely size July relative to June. Anecdotally, the World Cup captivated the whole world and a lot of people were not around. European football is extremely popular in Southeast Asia, and many players and fans were engaged. Given how recent the event was, it is too early to assess snapback. Let's revisit in 90 days and we will have a clearer picture.
Fair enough. On MBS, a year into the launch of the new renovations, is there any measure you can give us in terms of new customer development? Where are you in developing the highest-end population set? Are you early, or have you seen meaningful patterns after a year?
It is early days. For high-value tourism in Southeast Asia, there is substantial wealth creation and many successful entrepreneurs who want to come to Singapore. Marina Bay Sands benefits from Singapore's status as a center of trade and business. Many patrons are young and are creating wealth, and a lot of new patrons are showing up. There is a huge component of retail and entertainment in our customer activity, as well as gaming. We also benefit from MICE tourism: many high-net-worth people come for business and then return as leisure patrons. We think we are in very early innings of the Marina Bay Sands story and of Singapore's continued success as a center of trade and business. We are very excited about the long-term opportunity, the investments we are making, and the patron profile.
Thank you. The next question will be from David Katz from Jefferies. David, your line is live.
Hi, everyone. Thanks for including me. I wanted a long-term perspective on capital spending in Macau. On slide 21 I see $600 million next year and the year after. What should we think about being included in there? As we look out longer term, is that a rate you expect to maintain as you work across the portfolio on Cotai?
We show that CapEx on top of maintenance to invest for growth. We have identified the highest-return, highest-cash-flow projects to generate growth and move toward our previous levels of EBITDA and EBITDA share. We are focused on investing in the three pillars—people, product, service—and we have shown meaningful returns on capital deployed in high-end product addressing premium mass and VIP segments. We intend to invest to grow the business, and we expect to see returns from this CapEx, otherwise we would not do it.
Okay. Fair enough. One detail: did you tell us how many rooms are out at the Venetian so we can model inventory reductions per quarter?
It is approximately 400 keys out of inventory on average for the second quarter. You can assume that figure will fluctuate between 400 to 500 every quarter between now and into 2027.
That will work. Thank you very much.
Thank you. The next question will be from Steven Wieczynski from Stifel. Steven, your line is live.
Yes. Hey, guys. Good afternoon. Just one question. You talked a lot about the reinvestment rate in Macau for yourselves. Could you comment on your peer group as well—what you are seeing across the entire market and how you are thinking about when the entire market could start to slow reinvestment?
Our approach is not changing. As Grant said, as revenues grow in the market, there will be less pressure and more opportunity to make money. The competitive environment has been relatively stable for several quarters. We will continue to optimize reinvestment, but as the market grows there will be some decompression on the need to continuously elevate reinvestment levels.
I agree. As revenues grow in the market, there will be decompression on the need to continuously elevate reinvestment levels. Our approach has been consistent since the start of the year, and we will continue to optimize reinvestment and adjust in accordance with market changes. At this stage, we do not see significant changes in the competitive landscape as far as reinvestment is concerned.
Thank you. And the next question will be from Stephen from Deutsche Bank. Stephen, your line is live.
Hey, good afternoon, everyone, and thanks for the question. Following up on the World Cup one more time: as you look back at historical World Cups versus this one, is there any reason this year would have had a higher impact versus past World Cups? Could it be the location in the U.S. or other drivers?
A couple of thoughts: this World Cup had a larger number of teams participating, which may be a factor. Being in the U.S., with its infrastructure, airports, and hotel rooms, helped attract tourists from around the world. Global viewership of European football has increased over the years, and star players created tremendous interest. The last World Cup we saw during the pandemic was 2022, and visitation then was very different. It's hard to compare. So you had an extraordinary event that captivated the world, and we had not seen a normal World Cup in more than eight years. That combination explains why the impact may have been larger this time around.
That concludes our Q&A session for today. This also concludes today's conference call. You may disconnect your lines at this time, and have a wonderful day. We thank you for your participation.