Las Vegas Sands Corp Q1 FY2026 Earnings Call

Good day, ladies and gentlemen, and welcome to the Las Vegas Sands Corp. First Quarter 2026 Earnings Call. At this time, all participants have been placed on a listen-only mode. We will open the floor for your questions and comments following the presentation. It is now my pleasure to turn the floor over to Daniel Briggs, Senior Vice President of Investor Relations at Las Vegas Sands Corp. Sir, the floor is yours.

Thank you. Joining the call today are Patrick Dumont, our Chairman and Chief Executive Officer, Dr. Wilford 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 provisions 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 measures 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 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.

Thanks, Daniel. Good afternoon. Thank you for joining the call. As we look to the future, we could not be more enthusiastic about the opportunities for our company. Our strategic priorities remain clear and consistent with the goals of investing with discipline and creating meaningful shareholder returns. Turning to our current quarter results, we once again delivered outstanding financial results at Marina Bay Sands in Singapore, with EBITDA increasing over 30% to reach $788 million. Singapore is an ideal market for high-value tourism spending; our focus on creating unique and memorable entertainment and hospitality experiences for our guests has been a tremendous success. The company’s fundamental operating strategy relies on three critical pillars: our people, our product, our service. When we get these three pillars optimized, we can create outstanding financial and operating performance. We are seeing that at Marina Bay Sands today, and we could not be more enthusiastic about our additional opportunities for growth in Singapore as we continue to enhance the customer experience for our guests in the years ahead. Turning to Macau, we delivered $633 million in EBITDA for the quarter, an increase of over 18%. Mass market revenue share reached 25.7% for this quarter, our strongest performance since 2024. As in Singapore, the operating pillars of people, product, and service underpin our strategy to deliver growth in Macau. We believe we will deliver growth over time in Macau as we implement specific strategies to improve both our products and our service levels. We have a 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 continues to grow. Today, the growth in the Macau market is primarily driven by the premium segments. The competition in that segment remains intense, and luxurious suite product coupled with outstanding service levels are critical to success. We have the suite product to effectively compete in the premium segment at both The Londoner and Grand Suites at Four Seasons. We are singularly focused today on matching that suite and room product with the service levels that the most discerning and valuable customers in Macau increasingly demand. We are making progress. We have meaningfully increased our gaming revenues, gaming volumes, and premium customer patronage since implementing the recent changes to our reinvestment programs. Implementing meaningful improvements in the service pillar of our strategy in Macau will be critical to realizing additional growth and securing our long-term success. We believe we have outstanding opportunities for growth in every segment as we implement our strategies. Accordingly, we will be making targeted investments in training and hiring of additional customer-focused team members throughout the portfolio. Creating and delivering unique and memorable hospitality experiences is the centerpiece of our strategy, and improving service levels in Macau is critical to the achievement of our long-term financial and operating objectives. In addition, we plan to introduce refreshed and luxurious room and suite products throughout the portfolio, as we further execute the product pillar of our strategy. We are focused on the highest-return projects to increase cash flow over the next three years. We will begin with The Venetian, where work is already in progress, with refreshed room product beginning to come into service in 2026. Additional luxurious suite products and the total product refresh are targeted to be completed by 2027. Meaningful patron growth we have seen in The Londoner and Grand Suites at Four Seasons provides support for these investments. It is important to note that the work we envision will not create significant disruption throughout the portfolio. The scale of our portfolio will allow us to serve customers in 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 the non-premium segment should spending in that segment accelerate in the future. We are confident in our strategy in Macau, and we look forward to updating you on our progress as we execute our plans. Let us move forward to provide some additional detail on our current quarter financial performance. Macau EBITDA was $633 million. If we had held as expected in our rolling program, our EBITDA would have been lower by $15 million. When adjusted for higher-than-expected hold in the rolling segment, our EBITDA margin for the Macau portfolio of properties would have been 29.6%, down 200 basis points compared to 2025. Our principal focus in 2026 is to deliver revenue and cash flow growth across the portfolio. Our investments in improving service offerings will naturally increase expenses and will continue to negatively impact margins as we implement our strategy. We do expect margins to improve over time as we grow revenue in the lower end of the premium segment and in the non-premium segment, where the scale of our hotel inventory gives us natural advantages as we improve our service levels and further refine our reinvestment strategies. Margin for the quarter at The Venetian was 33.5%, while margin at The Londoner was 29.6%. We expect growth in EBITDA as revenues grow. We will use our scale and product advantages together with service level improvements and targeted incentives to effectively compete in every market segment. In Singapore, Marina Bay Sands EBITDA for the quarter was $788 million at a margin of 53%. If we had held as expected in our rolling program, our EBITDA would have been higher by $6 million. The outstanding financial and operating results at MBS reflect the impact of high-quality investment in market-leading product, world-class service, and the growth in high-value tourism. Turning to our program to return capital to shareholders, we repurchased $740 million of Las Vegas Sands Corp. stock during the quarter. We also paid our recurring quarterly dividend of $0.30 per share. We have now purchased 14.3% of the company’s outstanding shares over the last ten quarters, and we believe additional repurchases of Las Vegas Sands Corp. 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 shares of SCL during the quarter, we do continue to see value in both the Las Vegas Sands Corp. and SCL names. The company’s ownership of SCL remained at 74.8% as of March 31, 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 Las Vegas Sands Corp. We will now open the call for questions.

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 that each participant limit themselves to one question and one follow-up. Please hold a moment while we poll for questions. The first question today is coming from Daniel Politzer from JPMorgan. Daniel, your line is live.

Hey, good afternoon, everyone, and thanks for taking my questions. Singapore has gone from strength to strength. I think you had $18 billion of rolling chips in the quarter. How do you think about what is driving this? To what extent are you seeing any benefit from some of the things evolving in the geopolitical landscape that may be hitting other regions and possibly benefiting Singapore? Also, regarding Macau, you mentioned the goal to get back to $700 million in quarterly EBITDA. Obviously, it is going to require additional investment. In terms of the market growth you need to get there, at what level do you have to see the overall market or mass grow? Is that something you can achieve independent of the market accelerating?

Thanks. There are a couple of things about the Marina Bay Sands growth story, which is really a story about investment. The more we invest in high-quality assets, the better service levels we have, the more we differentiate our product, and the more high-value visitation we attract. The VIP segment is very competitive across Asia. The fact that we are able to see success here with these very high-value patrons is an example of the execution at the property. Our main driver of profitability at Marina Bay Sands is mass win and slots. VIP is a very volatile segment and can be concentrated at times. It is high-value customers, and they can vary from quarter to quarter. With the introduction of IR2, we will have more product to address this market and scale with it. We had an outstanding quarter. The team did a phenomenal job. These quarters can be highly concentrated and can vary. On Macau, I think we are heading in the right direction. You see the growth this quarter, and our focus on service and improving our product—we have some work to do across the portfolio—is starting to show progress. That milestone is achievable. It will require some growth in the overall market, but more importantly, it requires us to continue executing hospitality and service improvements. Grant, do you have anything else to add?

First of all, the market continues to grow. We had 14% growth year-over-year this quarter, and it is notable that we achieved significant revenue outperformance against each segment. We gained share in every single segment both on a year-over-year basis as well as sequentially. We achieved the EBITDA growth and sequential margin improvement while optimizing our reinvestment levels.

Got it. Thanks so much.

The next question will be from Brandt Montour from Barclays. Brandt, your line is live.

Hi, everybody. Thanks for taking my questions. Over in Singapore, you have a slide on theoretical rolling hold that curls over and reverts lower. Are you seeing a change in betting behavior or any reversion away from side bets or the long-odds bets you talked about? Second, on Macau, the base mass is not where most of the growth appears to be coming in the broader industry right now. Are you starting to see any green shoots in that customer, given a better stock market and other macro indicators? Anything in your KPIs that gives you incremental confidence in that segment?

The VIP business is very volatile, and there is an interesting occurrence in the way patrons play now. Some high-end VIP customers on rolling programs play traditional bets in a conservative way. Other patrons enjoy the volatility and the side bets we present. In 2025, where we hit the peak of 4.2% with $9.1 billion in rolling volume, patrons in the building really loved those side bets and drove the theoretical higher. In this quarter, with $18 billion of rolling volume, it was a barbell. We had people playing traditional bets conservatively and rolling a lot of volume, and others who were playing the side bets. The way we got to 3.6% was a mix of traditional VIP hold and patrons taking advantage of side bets, a more modern approach to the game. It was not an average play; it really was a barbell.

Okay. That is really helpful. Thanks for that. And then a second question on Macau. The market growth is driven by premium segments, both rolling and non-rolling. But can you point to indicators showing the base mass and mass growth are solid?

The market growth is driven by premium segments, but we can point to indicators that base mass and mass growth are solid. Look at the slot and ETG segment: we are seeing strong growth as a whole in the market, and Sands China outperformed the market in that segment by a significant margin this quarter. Our slot and ETG segment grew by 31% year-over-year and 10% sequentially, especially driven by our more mass-oriented properties, Parisian and Sands. A second indicator is our retail business. We hit a quarterly all-time high in tenant sales in this first quarter. Tenant sales grew by 37%. Yes, it was driven by jewelry and watches, but spending was broad across our malls, and we also saw significant growth in the fashion segment. From the slot segment and retail mall, consumption is solid. For GGR, the premium segments are still driving the majority of the growth.

Excellent. Thanks, everyone. The next question will be from Robin Farley from UBS. Robin, your line is live.

Great, thanks. On IR2, were you suggesting that IR2 would be focusing on one market—VIP or mass—or did you mean broadly product to address the Singapore market? Also, any thoughts on how to think about the two properties and combined EBITDA or incremental EBITDA from IR2 at a big-picture level?

IR2 will be the most luxurious and most highly amenitized hotel in the world. Our intention is to set a new standard for luxury hospitality, which will naturally attract very high-end patrons, some of whom are gaming patrons on rolling programs. IR2 will not be focused solely on VIP patrons; it will be for all high-value tourists visiting our property. It will set a new standard, and those customers tend to gravitate to those hospitality and amenity environments. It will also have an entertainment component that will appeal to the highest-value tourists. We hope it gives us additional inventory and strength at the highest levels of patron rating. We are looking to get our targeted return on invested capital across the total investment. We have always targeted about a 20% return. If you look at productivity from our highest-end products within Marina Bay Sands, we believe this is achievable, and that is why we are investing. The market is unique: tourists coming to Singapore, structural tailwinds supporting growth, the value Singapore has demonstrated as a tourism destination, and the arena we control with best-in-class presentation technology. We are excited about the opportunity and think it will enhance experience across the portfolio. For us, we are looking at a total project return in excess of the 20% target.

Great. Helpful. Thank you.

Thank you. The next question will be from Stephen Grambling from Morgan Stanley. Stephen, your line is live.

Hi. Can you talk about how customer concentration at Marina Bay Sands may have evolved? Are you getting more customers, is each customer playing more, and are you hitting any upper bound on play? Also, a follow-up on Macau: can you remind us of timing for renovations and where you plan to invest based on what you see in the market?

We went from 132 suites to 770, and we need more capacity. We wish we could have IR2 tomorrow. There was a sea change in the way we presented our products. Our design excellence initiatives have delivered outstanding work. Service levels are extraordinary. Our hospitality team has stepped up. Culinary efforts have improved. Nightlife is accelerating. Strength in retail drives high-value tourists to Singapore and our property. We can use more capacity when available. IR2 will increase high-end suites, add amenities we do not have today—entertainment, ballrooms, culinary—and we expect a multiplier effect across the portfolio. We started bringing in much higher-value tourists into Singapore and to our building, and there are more of them. We look forward to growing and taking advantage of the market opportunity. On investments in Macau, we have a strong long-term view for its success. Our company was built on the belief that investment and scale create a competitive advantage. Even though some segments are hypercompetitive, we perform with high-quality product, service levels, and marketing. We will invest in the portfolio where we have underinvested over the last five years to reposition assets and be more competitive. Grant can add specifics.

That is helpful. One follow-up: timing of some of the renovations and work in Macau?

We have seen exceptional results from new product over the last three to four quarters. Our market share gain is a function of reinvestment strategies and the ramp-up of The Londoner and Grand Suites. Four Seasons with Grand Suites is also very competitive. We have started renovation of The Venetian, our flagship property. This will deliver new inventory progressively starting in 2026, and the entire project should finish by late 2027 or early 2028.

Very helpful. Thank you.

The next question will be from Elizabeth Dove from Goldman Sachs.

Hi. The buyback stepped up this quarter. As you see Singapore EBITDA continuing to perform strongly, is this an appropriate quarterly run rate for repurchases, or how do you think about capital returns more broadly longer term? Also, regarding Macau for the rest of the year, comps get tougher. You are making progress on margin with sequential uptick, but how do you think about continuing to improve margins as comps get tougher?

We see significant value in both Las Vegas Sands Corp. and SCL equity and will continue repurchasing shares. This quarter represented a significant opportunity, so we were a bit more aggressive. Our goal is to continue meaningful repurchases as an important part of our return of capital strategy. You can see the substantial share count reduction over the last couple of years, and we will continue to look in that direction.

Revenue growth is an important factor; over time we expect higher revenues will drive margin improvement. We are investing heavily in improving service offerings across salesforce, distribution, hospitality, and gaming service levels. Those initiatives impact the cost structure and will continue to impact margin in the near term. At the same time, we are driving revenue growth and gaining revenue share. We also spent less on reinvestment relative to revenue on a sequential basis, and we see stabilization in reinvestment levels. The market remains very competitive, and we must continue to monitor dynamics carefully, but this quarter we achieved revenue growth and sequential stabilization and improvement in our reinvestment strategy.

The next question will be from Chad Beynon from Macquarie. Chad, your line is live.

Hi, good afternoon. Two questions on Macau. First, how does the entertainment calendar look through the rest of the year at Cotai Arena and smaller venues? Second, on base mass customer sentiment—are you getting any different sense from customers since tensions in the Middle East started, or do you think base mass customers will continue to perform?

On entertainment, we have been investing in entertainment assets for years in Macau. Entertainment is a great way to drive inbound tourism into Macau from China and the surrounding region. We are happy to see uptick in tourism from outside Macau, and entertainment helps show the quality of our assets and guest experiences. We have invested in the arena renovation that allowed us to host NBA games, and we continue to enhance programming across the portfolio. Grant can comment on the calendar.

The calendar was strong in the first quarter, which helped our performance. We did 11 to 12 shows during the quarter. We will continue to use entertainment content as a driver for resort visitation; it helps across every segment of the patron value chain. Big tours have slowed in Asian tour stops this year versus the prior two years. However, we can bring content of different size because we have both the Venetian Arena, the larger venue, and the mid-sized Londoner Arena. This allows us to offer a diverse range of acts and content. Having access to high-quality venues at different times of the year is not always easy, and we have an advantage with a number of acts and promoters in the region. Regarding mass gaming, you have seen 30% growth year-over-year in the overall market, which speaks to the attractiveness of assets, liquidity, accessibility, and demand growth.

Thank you both. Very helpful.

The next question will be from George Choi from Citigroup. George, your line is live.

Thank you. Based on numbers you are seeing now, how do you see the popularity of side bets among Macau players versus Singapore? Do you introduce more side options in Macau?

You often notice side bets first. We have introduced some new side wager options in Macau over the past week. Take-up of side bets, as a percentage of total wagers, is much higher at Marina Bay Sands than in Macau. That said, take-up of side wagers in Macau is increasing. Propensity to wager on side wagers is trending up, and the new side wagers we are implementing now and in the next few months will further enhance that propensity.

The next question will be from Joseph Stauff from SIG. Joseph, your line is live.

Thank you. On MBS, can you discuss the volatility associated with the rolling chip volume? Is it visitation-driven and what is easier for you to program? Was there a particular reason this quarter drove higher visitation from this clientele versus other quarters?

The VIP segment is volatile and can be concentrated; it depends on who shows up when. It is about visitation and bringing the highest-value patrons on rolling programs into the building. We have longstanding relationships with historical customers and new customers coming in. They appreciate our service, hotel suites, food, entertainment, and retail. It is a total experience proposition. For us, it is about having the right amenities to satisfy these very high-value customers and getting them into the building.

Got it. Thank you.

The next question will be from an analyst from Wells Fargo. Your line is live.

Thanks. One on CapEx: maintenance CapEx and the SCL-level CapEx in the slide deck moved up over the next couple of years. Is that because you are reinvesting more aggressively, and is this a pull-forward? Also, some comments on the Venetian rehab? Second, promotional activity in Macau ticked down sequentially. Is that because you ramped in Q4 and are seeing stickiness so you need less promotion as you go forward? Should that help towards the $700 million target?

Depreciation is real in our business, and we need to spend money to maintain our positioning and to grow. We are doing a full portfolio review to ensure we deploy capital efficiently and that the highest-return projects generate cash flow growth. This increase in CapEx reflects our expectation that investing more will drive more growth.

Perfect. Thanks. On promotions, is the sequential decline an optimization from the changes you made since 2025?

We optimized some programs after changing our reinvestment approach since 2025. We assessed what worked and what was less effective, and the team achieved good optimization this quarter while continuing to gain market share and grow revenue. We optimized the reinvestment level because we successfully leveraged our product advantage and ramped up The Londoner and Grand Suites, helping significantly in core premium mass and mid-tier segments. As we review the portfolio, there will be further opportunities to invest for growth while remaining targeted and disciplined in reinvestment as new products come online.

The next question will be from Steven Moyer Wieczynski from Stifel. Steven, your line is live.

To reach $700 million a quarter in Macau, does that assume competitors pull back aggressive promotions, or does it assume a more normalized promotional environment from both you and competitors?

We are thinking about $700 million in the context of current conditions. It is a very competitive market. We experienced growth this quarter, and I believe the market is growing. We are also helping grow the market with our high-quality assets. When we think about $700 million, it is about continuing to invest, having the right marketing programs, and utilizing our assets more efficiently. Additional market growth would help, but we believe the goal is achievable in the current environment.

Is it fair to think that a run rate around $600 million a quarter in Macau is appropriate for the foreseeable future until base mass returns?

Be careful with seasonality. The second quarter is typically our softest due to timing of Chinese New Year, so sequential comparisons between Q1 and Q2 can be misleading. Directionally, we believe we are in a solid place as we continue to grow and make the right marketing and asset utilization moves.

Next question will be from David Katz from Jefferies. David, your line is live.

Hi, afternoon. Can we talk about The Venetian and the degree of disruption we should factor in as you do the room renovation? Any qualitative perspective would be helpful. Also, on maintenance CapEx, should we think about that $500 million number as non-discretionary?

We do not expect meaningful disruption. We will balance out-of-inventory with business needs and redistribute demand across the rest of the portfolio. New rooms will come back into active inventory starting in the third quarter of 2026. Even though total keys will be modestly reduced during this period, we will benefit from brand-new suites coming online over the coming quarters, especially multi-bay suites toward the back end of 2027.

Understood. On maintenance CapEx, is that number necessary and non-discretionary?

We believe it is necessary to maintain our business. It is split between Marina Bay Sands and Sands China. We want to be realistic about what we need to spend to keep our buildings in the best condition to maximize cash flow. We do not view this as optional; it is a responsible move to take care of our buildings for the future.

And the next question will be from John DeCree from CBRE. John, your line is live.

Thanks. On OpEx in Macau: are the investments in service going to grow in line with revenue? Are these fixed-cost hires that will be on regardless of revenue, or will you time them as revenue increases? How much fixed cost is coming this year versus variable depending on revenue?

These hires are designed to enhance service levels. Ideally, as revenue grows we get some operating leverage across these costs, but they are primarily payroll. We are adding people to service certain patron tiers and enhance experience to meet high standards. Hiring is beneficial: we need people and physical product to deliver patron experiences that differentiate and draw the highest-value customers. This is an investment in the future.

When are the new hires coming on—on a rolling basis, or have they already been hired? When should we expect the lion’s share of additional staff to come online?

A significant number are already in OpEx now. Some additional payroll associated with service enhancement is in the margin today. It will continue to be added over the next couple of quarters.

That concludes today’s Q&A session, and it 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.