Serious China targets US-owned Marina Bay Sands in S'pore, casino to close shop soon

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An honorable member of the Coffee Shop Has Just Posted the Following:

Trouble Brewing At Marina Bay Sands, Hot On The Heels Of Restrictions In Macau

Summary


•Beijing was alerted to a potential misuse of the China UnionPay banking network at Marina Bay Sands.

•Las Vegas Sands admitted to the existence of the "resort entertainment" voucher program in question.

•The latest debacle comes hot on the heels of a revenue miss in Macau.

•The operating landscape has improved considerably but it is likely already reflected in the 58% price appreciation from the 52W low. Going forward, caution is advised.


The South China Morning Post, a newspaper owned by Jack Ma, the founder of Alibaba (NYSE:BABA), reported that the "resort entertainment" voucher scheme at Marina Bay Sands, a Las Vegas Sands Corporation (NYSE:LVS) property in Singapore, is apparently being run in violation of China's strict outbound currency control laws. After being informed of the program by the newspaper, Xie Zhong, the director of the payment settlement department at the central bank in Beijing, responded that the bank cards of China UnionPay "should certainly not be used in casinos."

While the report by The South China Morning Post did not specify the amount of revenue generated by the scheme, another source stated that the scheme has contributed to "hundreds of millions of dollars" flowing from China to Singapore. It did not elaborate if the amount was cumulative from the launch of the program in February 2015, or some other time period.


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