Las Vegas Sands Makes $4,500 Net Profit Every Single Minute, 2017 Mass Shooting Cited for MGM Struggles

Posted on: July 30, 2019, 01:46h. 

Last updated on: July 30, 2019, 04:33h.

Devin O'Connor @CasinoorgDevinO Read More
Expertise: Asia Pacific Gaming, Commercial Gaming, Legislation, Politics.

Las Vegas Sands, the world’s richest casino operator in terms of revenue, makes a net profit of more than $4,500 every single minute of every single day.

Las Vegas Sands casino profit
The saying goes “the house always wins,” and for Las Vegas Sands that’s certainly true. The Palazzo owner makes over $4,500 a minute after expenses. (Image: Nubry)

A study of the globe’s 39 largest publicly traded companies in the tourism industry according to their market capitalizations places four casino operators on the list. They are Sands, Galaxy Entertainment, MGM Resorts, and Caesars Entertainment.

Travel researcher Asher Fergusson reviewed their 2018 net incomes to determine just how much money these multibillion-dollar corporations are making each minute after all expenses are paid.

Sands is the top dog in the gaming industry, earning $4,585 per minute in net profit. Galaxy is next at $3,272, MGM third at $894, and Caesars fourth at $571.

Booking Holdings – the parent company to such online sites as Priceline, Kayak, and OpenTable, took the top spot with a $7,607 profit per minute. Rounding out the top five are Delta Airlines ($7,496), Carnival Cruises ($5,993), Southwest Airlines ($4,699), Sands, and Accor Hotels ($4,243).

The least profitable companies in the top 39 are Lyft and Uber, which respectively lost $1,731 and $3,425 each minute last year.

Sands, MGM, and Caesars need little introduction to US travelers. Galaxy Entertainment is a Hong Kong-based company that has casinos in Macau.

MGM Backlash

Fergusson believes the October 2017 mass shooting in Las Vegas that left 58 victims dead hurt MGM’s 2018 performance. The gunman opened fire from MGM’s Mandalay Bay shooting at victims attending an outdoor music festival below on the 15-acre Las Vegas Village site – also owned by MGM.

MGM is the only company not in the bottom ten to have declined significantly, which may be due to the mass shooting that took place in Las Vegas in October 2017,” Fergusson opined. “Months later, the company created a PR nightmare for itself by announcing a lawsuit against the victims of the shooting.”

2018 Casino Operators Net Income: Sands: $2.41 billion, Galaxy: $1.73 billion, MGM: $467 million, Caesars: $671 million

Casinos of course don’t only make their money from their slot machines and table games. Operations from their hotels, restaurants, entertainment, and retail shops account for a considerable chunk of revenue.

Sands’ 2018 year-end report shows its casinos generated revenue of $9.8 billion, while rooms grossed  $1.7 billion, food and beverage $865 million, retail $690 million, and convention $622 million.

Profit Concerns

Casinos could see their revenue and subsequent net income decline should lawsuits challenging their resort fees win in court.

Attorneys general for Nebraska and DC have both filed separate complaints alleging hoteliers routinely engage in “price dripping” – the act of advertising one price and then incrementally raising it through unavoidable taxes and charges. They’re commonplace at casino resorts in Las Vegas and across the country.

The lawsuits contend that the resorts are hiding the true cost of a hotel room during the booking process in order to ramp up their revenues. Nebraska AG Doug Peterson says hotels that don’t engage in drip pricing are at a competitive disadvantage on sites such as Booking’s Kayak and Priceline.