HONG KONG: Gaming giant Sands China said on Tuesday its first-quarter net profit rose 6.4 percent thanks to record earnings at its Venetian casino in Macau.
Net profit from the company's three casinos and related businesses in the former Portuguese colony, the world's biggest gambling centre, rose to $279.3 million in January-March, the Hong Kong-listed company said in a statement.
It said the Venetian "delivered solid growth in gaming volumes in each segment of the business".
The property earned revenue before interest, tax, depreciation and amortisation (EBITA) of $282.1 million, an increase of 23.6 percent year on year.
The Sands Macau casino adjusted property EBITDA rose 16.0 percent to $106.7 million and the Plaza generated record EBITDA of $67.5 million, up 17.8 percent.
A unit of US-based Las Vegas Sands Corp, Sands Macau opened its fourth casino in the booming Asian gaming capital last month.
The $5 billion Sands Cotai Central features three hotels, high-end retail stores, ballrooms, convention halls and casinos in what amounts to a double-down bet on the spending power of China's burgeoning middle class.
"We're going to make Macau a city of business, conventions and leisure tourism," Sands group chairman Sheldon Adelson told hundreds of journalists at the glitzy new resort's opening news conference.
The US gaming company was reportedly close to bankruptcy three years ago as plummeting revenues in Las Vegas, combined with mounting debts associated with its Asian projects, played havoc with its balance sheet.
But the explosive growth of revenues from its Macau operations since the end of 2009 have helped the company bounce back to rude health, and it now has plans for new mega-resorts in other countries including Spain.
The semi-autonomous southern Chinese territory, the only part of China where gambling is legal, overtook Las Vegas in terms of gaming revenue after the sector was opened to foreign competition in 2002.
US gaming mogul Steve Wynn said last week his Wynn Macau business -- one of six firms licensed to operate casinos in the city -- had received approval to build a new casino, which is expected to open in 2013.
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