拉斯維加斯金沙集團 (LVS) 2010 Q3 法說會逐字稿

Good afternoon.

My name is Kristen and I will be your conference operator today.

At this time, I would like to welcome everyone to the Las Vegas Sands Corporation Q3 earnings conference call.

All lines have been placed on mute to prevent any background noise.

After the speakers' remarks, there will be a question-and-answer session.

(Operator Instructions).

Thank you.

I would now like to turn the call over to our host, Mr.

Daniel Briggs, Vice President of Investor Relations.

Thanks very much.

Before I turn the call over to Mr.

Adelson, let me remind you that today's conference call will contain forward-looking statements that we are making under the Safe Harbor provisions of federal securities laws.

The Company's actual results could differ materially from the anticipated results in those forward-looking statements.

Please see today's press release under the caption "Forward-Looking Statements" for a discussion of risks that may affect our results.

In addition, we may discuss adjusted net income, adjusted diluted EPS, and adjusted property EBITDA, which are non-GAAP measures.

A definition and a reconciliation of each of these measures to the most comparable GAAP financial measures are included in the press release.

Please note that this presentation is being recorded.

With that, let me please introduce our Chairman, Mr.

Sheldon G.

Adelson.

Thanks Dan.

Ladies and gentlemen, I am very excited to report that Las Vegas Sands blew out the third quarter of 2010 with record EBITDA of $645 million on net revenue of $1.9 billion.

Our EBITDA results were the highest in our industry since late 2006 when Las Vegas was at the very peak of its profitability.

These results are part of a powerful and continuing trend which can be explained by our company's long-standing strategic direction in combination with prudent new management and the team that Mike Leven and I have assembled and continue to build around us.

Some of you may recall that, at our annual shareholders meeting in June, I suggested the Company might be able to reach $3 billion in EBITDA in 2011.

Well, it turns out I might have been wrong.

Looking at our results from the first 25 days of October, our annualized run rate is now substantially in excess of $3 billion.

It's good to be wrong in that direction.

So with that important clarification out of the way, let me take a few minutes to discuss highlights for this quarter's historic performance and some of the trends we are seeing moving in to the end of October.

Adjusted EBITDA reached a record $645 million for the quarter.

Our EBITDA climbed by more than 73% from the beginning of June to the end of September.

The trend continues into October, where we are on pace to grow an additional 31% from September to October.

Net revenue reached a record $1.9 billion in the quarter.

From June to September, net revenue increased more than 8%.

From September to October, we are projecting an increase of 12%.

EBITDA margin also reached a record 33.8%, up nearly 1000 basis points from the 23.9% in the quarter last year.

Adjusted diluted EPS reached $0.34, up over 1100% -- that's eleven times -- from $0.03 in last year's third quarter and is the highest third-quarter EPS in the Company's history.

Let's turn to Singapore, where Marina Bay Sands in its first full quarter of operations generated a whopping $245 million in EBITDA and an outstanding EBITDA margin of just a tad under 50% at 49.7% for the quarter.

Both are records for any property in our company's history.

This is in spite of the fact that local Non-Rolling play of 2.65% negatively impacted our revenue by approximately $20 million.

These results are particularly impressive considering we are still in the very early stages in Singapore after opening the doors just six short months ago.

Let me share with you some of the exciting trends we are experiencing at Marina Bay Sands.

These figures are based on a four-week average comparison.

Gross gaming revenue has increased to 126% since May, reaching $8.4 million per day in October.

That's an annualized run rate of $3.1 billion.

Rolling volumes have increased 182% since May to reach $116.3 million per day in October.

At that rate, we will roll $42 billion annually, approximately.

Gross gaming revenue from our match tables and slots increased 49% since May to reach $3.2 million per day in October and an annual run rate of $1.2 billion.

Non-Rolling drop increased 21% since May to $9.6 million per day in October.

That's an annual run rate of $2.5 billion.

Slot handle increased 165% to reach $18.3 million per day in October.

That is $6.7 billion annually.

The slot win per unit per day increased 43% since May to reach $517 per unit per day so far in October.

These results reflect the addition of electronic table games, which came in August, August and September.

The annual run rate for a gross slot win is approximately $350 million.

Let me now provide some quick cover on Macau.

I'll address the issue of EBITDA versus gross revenue in a minute, but let me first point out that our EBITDA margin in Macau reached a record 31.3%, up 310 basis points from the 28.2% in the same quarter last year.

I believe that's a result of having an integrated resort where you have other departments that are contributing to a lot of the fixed (inaudible) the variable consensus.

Additionally, you all know the Golden Week holiday took place earlier this month.

It was a strong Golden Week for Sands China, (inaudible) we set two daily records for EBITDA and with a full weekend still ahead of us, and despite the prior week's typhoon warning, we are on pace to have a record month in October overall.

We are certainly enjoying tailwinds in both Singapore and Macau at the moment.

Our progress in both the Las Vegas and Bethlehem Sands should not be discounted either.

We are optimistic about trends in Las Vegas, including momentum from our recently announced marketing alliance with Intercontinental Hotel Group, and in Bethlehem where table games and the completion of our hotel next spring should continue to produce increased growth revenue and EBITDA.

Simply put, our business overall has never been healthier.

We are growing at a significant rate while generating more cash flow than ever before.

As a widely read Macau publication recently said on separate occasions, and I quote, "LVS will one day soon be remembered for the quarter in which it separated from the pack, separated from the pack and became The One.

It's now the kind of stock you would want to put in your children's trust fund, simply because Adelson has pulled away, thanks to its huge bets in Asia.

The properties he already has are going to provide fantastic cash flow in the coming years for investors".

Not our words, but we couldn't agree more.

The fundamentals of this business and our basic business model have not changed, and were always valuable.

Our strong results reflect the successful execution of the integrated resort development strategy that we have aggressively pursued since we founded the Company.

That is the key to our growth story, this validity of our assets.

We can't possibly know how these trends will continue to develop, but we can give you a real-time look at what we are seeing right now.

As a starting point for our Q&A discussion, let me share my thoughts on three additional points, first with respect to the granting of credit in Singapore.

We have more than ten years experience granting credit to Asian customers in both Las Vegas and Macau.

We have been very judicious about granting credit, notwithstanding the ramp-up we have been experiencing.

We are managing this very tightly and monitoring it on a daily if not an hourly basis.

We have been measured and prudent about granting credit.

Second, our strong belief is that the appropriate measure of our financial performance is EBITDA, not market share of gross revenue.

For instance, in Macau, (technical difficulty) has given out cans of sub licenses.

According to rumors, MGM, Galaxy and Melco have decided to follow suit.

I believe Galaxy and Melco are also doing so.

Under these arrangements, the operator may actually receive -- and these are the most recent offers -- the operator may actually receive as little as 3% of gross revenue.

But they use 100% of the gross revenue to determine their market share.

I personally think there is an over-exaggeration on the issue of gross revenue for market share, when all you're getting is 3% out of it but you are counting the entire 100% as part of your market share.

What's more important, 3% of revenue before expenses or EBITDA of more than 30%?

I think that the answer is obvious.

Anybody who has read the Dummies Guide to Doing Business knows that what really counts is the cash you are able to put in the bank.

So I hope that will put an end to the market share quotations the way it's been done.

While our market share of gross gaming revenues in Macau has remained approximately 20%, our share of EBITDA in the marketplace is significantly higher.

We estimate that we are currently generating between 35% and 40% of the total EBITDA in the market.

Now, that is how we define market share leadership in Macau.

One final thought -- sometimes, we owned a little less, sometimes we owned a little more, but we are right where we should be, and so [we will be averages] over time.

So with that, Mike, Rob, and Ken are also here to answer your questions, so let's go to Q&A.

(Operator Instructions).

Felicia Hendrix, Barclays Capital.

Good afternoon.

So great quarter, Sheldon.

At the beginning, you ran through a lot of impressive numbers for October, for me kind of fast.

Everybody else can't speak up at this moment.

So, if I missed something, I apologize.

But in those numbers -- and you were just talking about how important EBITDA was.

I was just wondering if you can give us an idea of what EBITDA was trending in October at Marina Bay Sands?

The trend of EBITDA?

I've got to tell you, we don't have that -- do we have that here?

As a percentage?

Not as a percentage.

So your EBITDA in the quarter was about $80 million a month, so I was just wondering how it's turning out in October.

I did say what -- somebody, what's the number?

It's over 20%.

It's beyond 20%.

From the beginning of -- from the end of May to the beginning of October.

(multiple speakers)

Thank you.

I just missed that, sorry.

It was kind of fast.

Then so the margins at the property, very impressive 50%.

You definitely got there faster than we expected.

Where do margins go from here?

That's a good question.

We are sailing in Marina Bay Sands Singapore, sailing in uncharted waters.

The amount -- we don't see any let up in the growth, but the higher the Paiza Club or the high-end gaming, the larger the slug of revenue from that segment, the higher the percentage will be.

The other day, we pulled in 71% of casino departmental profit.

So the more that -- it's tough to say, but I can't see it going much more than 60%.

We'd have to have a very high, very consistent high end of the market return every single day to get beyond 60%.

Just getting back to my other question as a follow-up, so it grew 20% from the end of May to October.

What's the base that you're using?

No, no, no.

Much more.

Dan, what's the figure?

For Marina --

Sorry, but somebody came along and took my pages here.

I can't refer back to the beginning.

We got a very strong (technical difficulty) October.

We are holding a little heavy, but we've got a very, very strong start to October.

So if you look at the month in the quarter, July, August and September EBITDA by property, it goes up every month from June to July, from July to August, and August to September and from September to October.

Again, October had a Golden Week in it.

It's also got heavier hold even after the Golden Week, so we are really enjoying the wind at our back right now.

But the number is much, much higher than the number we had in September.

On a percentage basis, based on what's happening right now, it is up 40%, approximately 40% from September to October.

EBITDA margin.

EBITDA.

So you won't tell us what the September EBITDA was?

It's obviously higher than --

Yes, I think you have plenty of color.

Okay.

(multiple speakers)

Just are the rebates still at 1.2 to 1.3?

Yes.

Great.

Final question, on Four Seasons Macao, EBITDA margins were also a record.

You obviously held well in the mass, but I was just wondering what a run rate was there.

I don't think we have that carved out.

The run rate?

An annual run rate of EBITDA?

No, you had a record EBITDA margin at the Four Seasons, but you held well.

Should we look at this as we model forward, or is this an anomaly?

I don't think it's an anomaly.

I think it's because we had a very -- we had a much higher percentage of high-end gaming, of high-end wins.

But I see the Four Seasons, the Plaza at the Four Seasons not equaling but starting to approach within a striking range the numbers we are experiencing at Sands Macao.

That's right.

Okay.

That's picking up.

We expect it to pick up more.

We anticipate doing some property improvements and adding a couple of amenities.

Great.

Thanks a lot.

Janet Brashear, Sanford Bernstein.

Thank you.

On the topic of Singapore, could you give us a little preview of what you see coming in the next quarter relative to the moving parts?

You had a lot of moving parts, a new part to the resort open like with retail ramping up, with changing the electronic games or adding electronic games, and increasing your occupancy.

Could you talk a little bit about where you think the occupancy can go if you have more changes to the game mix, and how the retail might ramp?

Basically -- this is Mike.

Our occupancy has been building (technical difficulty) pretty favorably.

Our tour operator business is up to close to 600 rooms a night.

Our MICE business is building.

We expect the occupancies to go significantly higher towards the end of the year.

On the retail, we are still not completely open.

All the retail with the possible exception of Louis Vuitton will be open by the end of the year.

It's starting to ramp, not as well as we would've thought in the early going because the construction is going on, but it will basically be finished, so that will be a contributor in 2011, we think, significantly.

Our room rate is holding and going -- actually heading north, it's going up.

So that's working.

I think all the signs, our call center, all the signs of business beyond the casino situation are starting to move forward now pretty rapidly.

I think you'll see some very significant contributions to that.

But (technical difficulty) at the end of the year, and the museum will open the end of the year.

So we're pretty much done with everything there except a light and water show which will probably open in February.

Now, we just have celebrity chefs opening the end of this month.

The rooftop restaurant opens the end of this month.

The only significant delay in anything is the health club and the spa, and that will take place sometime in the early part of '11.

So all of these income generating areas will pretty much be done by the time we head into '11, and some of them will have already ramped.

So we expect a bigger contribution in 2011 from the rest of the property.

That's great, thanks.

Could you also give us a little update on Lots Five and Six and Macau on things like have you been able to resolve all the prior contracts from when you shut down and restarted?

How is the labor situation coming along?

What sorts of expenses are you incurring as an additive expense now that the work is not going quite at the pace you would like?

Maybe a little bit about when you expect Galaxy to open and the impact on the whole market, not necessarily the Venetian but maybe the Peninsula as well.

The latest commentary on galaxy is June -- what we are hearing, we have no definitive word out about that.

As far as we're concerned, we are still on our target.

Our budget has remained the same.

Yes, there will be a couple of months delay.

We are still looking at the end of the last quarter of '11 to open a Phase I.

However, in the next 30 days, we should know pretty well whether we can make that particular situation depending upon the amount of available employees.

We have gotten indications that we are going to get the numbers we need, but until we actually see them, we can't give a definitive answer as to the exact date it will open.

All the contract situations have been basically resolved.

The contracts are out to the subcontractors.

Everything is ready to go.

All of the design work is pretty much done.

Material is being ordered.

As soon as we get the -- move our construction workforce from where it is to where it has to be to get everything done, we'll be able to give you that definitive date.

But I would say by the time -- by the end of this year, we will have a much more definitive date on Five and Six.

Every indication in the press and from the government says that the problem should be solved, but until it is solved, we are just kind of plugging along with our plans.

But the contracts that you asked about are all taken care of.

There should be no surprises there at all.

Thank you.

Finally, could you comment a little on Sands Macao?

If there's any property that didn't perhaps hit the ball quite as far out of the park as every other one, it would be Sands Macao.

Where do you see that property trending now?

When Sheldon mentioned earlier some improvements, was he talking about Sands Macao?

No.

Actually, the improvements that Sheldon was talking about were in the Plaza and the Four Seasons.

We're putting in some high-limit areas which have been very good for that particular casino.

We've also done some more junket work in the Four Seasons and the Plaza Casino.

So those things are starting to ramp up.

In the Sands, as many of you know, we are doing the Playboy situation on the rooftop area.

We put some private gaming rooms in there with that.

I think the Sands Macao we really sort of look at as the cash cow in Macau.

Remember that the most amount of competition that is there in Macau really, really affect the Sands, which is located on a peninsula.

So we work very hard with our business mix there.

We are not looking for enormous hops in growth.

We are looking for really stability.

I think that's what you saw happen in this quarter.

Thanks very much.

I want to comment.

We are still growing.

I'm looking at the numbers.

We are still growing, not as dramatically as our other properties, but we are still growing.

Bear in mind that most of the competition is on the peninsula.

Just holding our own, when there is more capacity, it dropped into the market periodically.

Just holding our own is an accomplishment, but we are actually increasing.

Also, another point I want to bear in mind, back in 2005, we announced that we paid off the entire cost of the property.

So we're providing an infinite return.

So every nickel we make there is a nickel without an investment.

Let me talk about billion.

Every $1 billion we make is without an investment.

Next question.

Mark Strawn, Morgan Stanley.

Just one quick question on Singapore.

As you look at your customers today, do you have a rough breakdown of the customer mix between locals and foreign markets and which maybe foreign markets you could target more heavily going forward?

I'll tell you that foreign market is a moving target.

I'll tell you that I watch that every single day, but I only have access to the top 20 what we call the hit sheet.

The top 10 winners, the top 10 losers.

The average number of countries that are represented in those 20 customers are 8 to 9 different countries.

We get countries from all over the Pacific, from Laos and Cambodia and Myanmar -- let me get back to the beginning and say that our primary markets are Singapore, Malaysia and Indonesia.

We are building up a steady stream of business from Korea, from Japan and outside of the area, Hong Kong is our biggest contributor.

China is let me say equally as strong.

So we get a lot of business from China but we're very cautious about granting credit only to people that we know.

So it's just a whole potpourri of countries that are represented.

I've ordered a percentage of total business, a breakdown by country.

So we'll see what kind of (inaudible) an analysis.

But I've got to tell you, as far as the top 10 -- or 10 winners or losers, it comes from a wide variety.

I personally am curious about it.

I watch this every single day.

I could look at it.

Sometimes, we have as little as four people from Singapore, sometimes as many as 12 or 14 out of the 20.

One day last week, I saw midweek only four countries represented.

But it's going out.

We get from Bangladesh; we get from India, from Thailand, from the Indo-Chinese countries, Vietnam; we get from Philippines, New Zealand, Australia, some from -- a couple from the USA.

But we're going to do an analysis of that, and we will probably publish that.

But I personally see it as a very promising sign because when you penetrate the level of the haves as opposed to the have-nots in a place like Bangladesh, where all the haves know each other and people say they enjoyed their stay and their trip, we're going to get a lot more people come, say, Bangladesh.

And so we will have a steady, solid stream of business from each of those countries, and there's an awful lot of them.

Thank you very much.

That's very helpful.

One follow-up if I may, perhaps a question for Mike.

As you look at operating expenses at Marina Bay Sands, would you say you're pretty much fully staffed at this point without a lot of incremental labor coming on?

We actually have been understaffed from the original target.

Our original target was about 8400 people.

We ran below that for the first number of months just in terms of onboarding people; we couldn't find enough of them.

So, our present payroll levels will probably increase closer to that 8400 level, and then we have additional employees coming on with the theaters and the retail stores and the museum, etc., all of which will come according to plan.

So we don't expect that there will be any enormity in the payroll increases compared to what we expected from the beginning, but you'll have some slight increases to what we have been running now.

We watch that very carefully and continue to watch that very carefully.

We also get requests from the Casino Regulatory Commission for certain audits and things like that that keep coming in that require additional people, and we are working -- we do that as well.

But I don't think you'll see any enormous surprise in terms of payroll costs.

Thank you very much.

Joe Hudak, Wells Fargo Advisors.

Thank you for taking my call.

Great quarter.

Not to be redundant but actually my questions have already been answered.

Thank you.

David Katz, Jefferies.

I wanted to ask about Singapore, if I may?

Noticing that the occupancy in the hotel is still what I guess we should consider at the formative stages, how should we think about a fuller or a higher occupancy and how that translates into casino revenue once you get there?

In the context of what we've seen so far appears to be clearly stronger than what we had and my guess is stronger than what many people had been forecasting so far?

I think you'll see that in the growth in the mass-market play.

The numbers that we talked about before on the per-day actualities for the mass-market, we expect that those numbers will increase as the participation in the hotel increases.

Eventually, we'll get a tracking for the out-of-town or the foreign visitors from the hotel and what they are doing if they get carded, in other words if they get monitored in the casino.

But we haven't done that yet.

But that is your metric that you watch, because there's only so much mass-market that can come from the Singapore environment itself.

And so as the hotel fills and gets more interesting business from MICE, etc., things like we have a big Indian promotion going on in January to open that market more viably for us, I think that is the measure that you'll see.

Slot play and mass drop will be the ones.

If I can ask one more -- thank you -- on Las Vegas, one of the things I observe is a potential I believe expansion of McCarran at some point out in the future.

I admit to not knowing a heck of a lot about how those expansions get filled up with air capacity.

Looking at that as a potential driver of some recovery in Las Vegas, what can you help us with in terms of how that rolls and what you might know about an expansion at the airport, increased capacity at the airport, and just thinking about a Las Vegas recovery longer-term?

The airport is expanding with an additional runway, but it doesn't really do us much good because unless you get more lift into Las Vegas, USAir and Southwest and whatever have cut back some of their lift into Vegas, which has caused I believe it's something like 800,000 less passengers this year coming into the airport.

That drop is really because no seats were available.

Most of the planes that come in here have very high load factors, and they are very profitable for the airlines, but they sort of left us out in the cold.

There are a couple of things that are happening that I see.

Korean Air is coming in now.

There's a couple of other foreign carriers that have come in, BA and Virgin, and what have you, that are dropping some people in here.

But at the end of the day, to have a significant recovery for Vegas in terms of the totality of the market, we need more lift in here, because the drive traffic is pretty stable as well.

California does siphon off a little bit of that drive traffic with their own entertainment and casino facilities.

So lift is the single most important thing in terms of that.

McCarran can handle more traffic.

It's just a question of getting more planes in.

Thank you very much.

You didn't mention Adelson Air.

(Laughter)

Joe Greff, JPMorgan.

Hello everyone.

At Marina Bay Sands, do you have any more space to add more slot or table gaming capacity?

Do you feel that your capacity is constrained at all right now?

We do have capacity.

We can find more room, but we do have capacity.

We are ready to do something.

There is a possibility of some additional [GFA] to be connected to the hotel, but I really can't say much about that now.

If we are going to expand right now with what we have, we are doing an analysis of the availability of a number of gaming -- private gaming rooms.

So, we're looking ahead, and we do have some space to put that.

I think we are okay in the mass-market, and I think we have enough capacity, but I think in the high end, as it grows, it's already close to -- it's pushing 60% of total gaming income.

It's from like 57% to 60% of the gaming income, and that keeps improving, keeps increasing.

So I think that what we are going to focus on first is more private gaming.

(inaudible) private gaming room, one bet can equal all the bets that are on the table in the mass gaming floor for that minute.

So, there's a lot of upside potential at the high end.

We're going to focus on making sure we have enough private gaming rooms.

Thank you.

I was hoping you can maybe give us some sort of status update on commercial gaming in Japan.

I believe, a few weeks ago, there were some delegates from the government visiting in Las Vegas.

Then I have a follow-up question.

The status of the Japan -- well, as I mentioned before, there was an inter-party gambling study group put together.

They -- it appears to me, and we have been told there is a draft of legislation.

We've contributed to that, we've commented on that, and it's moving forward.

They say that it should come through by the end of the six-month session, starting I think in either January or February coming up -- that within six months, the legislation and all the companion legislation, you know, they have to modify other laws such as an anti-gaming law to make it legal to allow gaming.

So there are a number of companion measures that have to be done.

They say that should be done by the end of September -- sorry, by the end of June.

If it's done by the end of June, they are talking about going into July -- going into -- the next session of the Legislature will be the first half of '12, during which it will have already been put over to the -- transferred to the prefectures and the prefectures will set up their own procedures.

Selection of operators should be made sometime -- it could happen sooner, but they are talking more conservatively about the first half of '12.

Sheldon, you started out this call by talking about how, in the first 25 days of October, you are already run-rating at your old $3 billion 2011 EBITDA (multiple speakers).

Can you imagine that Joe?

I was wrong.

(multiple speakers)

Let me give you a chance to correct yourself and establish a new target.

What is that new target now?

What's the new -- listen.

I got myself into so much trouble.

I blurted it out during the shareholders meeting, and I got into so much trouble, the attorney said "What did you do that for?

Blah blah blah." Mike carried on a lot of one-on-ones by the end of the day.

They said that's all they ask, what about the $1 billion in Singapore and the $3 billion?

Rob is telling me I have to step up to the plate and admit I was wrong.

(inaudible)

That was his line.

I had to admit that I was wrong and that I was much too conservative.

That's -- certainly that's not my reputation, so I had to correct it.

So I certainly didn't want to lose my reputation, so we just had to do more than what I expected.

Great.

Excellent.

Thanks everyone.

Robin Farley, UBS.

Thanks.

I wonder if you could give us some color around receivables, and (technical difficulty) as a percent of specifically casino receivables in both Singapore and Macau?

Yes, sure.

It's Ken.

I think we've, as Sheldon mentioned in the prepared remarks, been very careful with regard to the extension of credit in Singapore.

As with the rest of our operations, when we establish reserves against receivable balances, we go account by account and work with marketing people, the collection people and the finance people to determine the appropriate balances.

So as a just overall statement, I think we're very conservatively stated, relative to our receivable balances.

If you look at [just] Macau, we've got a reserve or allowance for collection of about 42% against the gross casino Accounts Receivable in total.

If you take a look at that after kind of the immediate collections that come right after the end of the quarter, it's almost 48%.

In Singapore, obviously we're just getting started with regard to kind of the extension of credit and balances.

We've got about a couple hundred million dollars of receivables outstanding, and we've got about a 12% reserve against that and no significant issues to really report.

So we've gone through the vast majority of the accounts and feel that they are all adequately stated with the modest amount of reserves we have.

Actually, interesting enough, we've had some kind of long outstanding balances that we are starting to see collections come in on those in the fourth quarter on accounts that haven't paid for some time.

So we're doing actually better than what we expected.

Just to clarify, did you say 42% reserved in Macau but 12% in Singapore?

I just want to make sure I got those numbers right.

Yes, that's correct.

In Singapore, it's about 12% against the gross receivables (inaudible) -- casino receivable outstanding.

Obviously, that casino balance, Robin, it's much pressured and there's nothing old, so to speak (multiple speakers)

Sure.

I understand.

Great.

The last question is just do you have any thoughts on the timing of junket operators getting approved in Singapore, and how -- and I don't know whether how important that is to [you now] but just your thoughts on that and timing of that.

What was that word, the training of junket (inaudible)?

(multiple speakers)

(multiple speakers) government approval in Singapore.

Well, my position hasn't changed.

We will seriously consider doing business with junket reps, but I'm still of the opinion that either they are not going to fully apply or that they are not going to be, if they fully apply, only the ones where they -- I would think that only the ones with no track record would pass.

If they did pass, they won't have enough business to really add a lot of value to the junket rep mainstream of customers coming in.

We keep finding little things that happen.

One guy will send in a lot of money for the benefit of several other people.

We cut that off as soon as we see that.

But junket -- we are not going to take any steps whatsoever that can be directly, indirectly, remotely, or overtly through junket reps, because it's disallowed.

We are erring on the side of following the Casino Regulatory Authority rules.

We are not sure that our competitor is doing this.

I are read an article yesterday about there seems to be the best -- the worst kept secret that [Kenting] is doing business with junket reps.

Now, they have been doing business with junket reps for decades.

I am not sure that they know -- they have any experience with the credit markets.

They certainly want to -- they find it a lot easier to deal directly with the junket reps.

But as I said before and I'll say it again, I don't believe they're going to provide the information that the government will require.

If they do, they will either not be the kind of junket reps that are the Macau style junket reps that provide their collective credit.

They'll just be referring for limited commission or cap on this commission.

So I don't think that junket reps are going to be a major (inaudible) but they want very much to be there.

If they're going to be there, we'll seriously consider doing business with them.

But so far, we are doing quite well without them.

That's great.

Thank you very much.

Larry Klatzkin, Chapdelaine.

Hey guys.

Congratulations Sheldon.

Great results.

A couple of quick questions -- one, Four Season apartment sales -- any update on that or the status of when you might get that money in?

I don't want to sound like a broken record, but we are hopeful that we can eminently receive approval.

All right.

Second is forward booking --

If you read the newspapers, you read the clippings, we have a clipping service.

If you read that and you believe it, we are about to get it.

I hope that's the case.

You could bring in as much as, what, $1 billion with all the apartments being sold?

At the number we're looking at, it could be as high as $1.4 billion.

Okay.

Rob, as far as convention bookings for Vegas goes, I know Vegas is the boring area at this point.

But how is it looking for 2011?

Are you still booking over $200 a night on what you are seeing?

(inaudible)

Yes, for groups, forward booking.

Yes, groups are strong.

the main trends are good for the Group segment.

Unfortunately, the (inaudible) we are probably in the 180, 190 range for '11.

We are not getting the $200 (inaudible).

So that's not happening.

Demand is there, (inaudible) competition, in that segment, every segment in Las Vegas.

So, we expect that we'll hit our numbers (inaudible) segmentation but I don't think rates will be -- they will not reach $200, no.

As an indication, we are straddling $200 for this month.

Here in are in --

In October.

-- in October.

We are straddling -- one of the two properties is $201, one is $199, so we are straddling an average of $200.

Are you guys (multiple speakers)

The Intercontinental deal, with 102 million customers, they've got thousands of salespeople out in the field.

The biggest venue that they're [bidding] us for is Las Vegas with no property here to fill it.

So we signed a deal with them; we just announced it a couple of days ago.

I think it's difficult to add a lot of numbers to it, but I am quite convinced, and so is Mike, that this will be the difference between lower occupancy and full occupancy.

That's great.

So I think -- they don't go after -- no hotel company goes after the big groups we do.

That's true.

They don't chase 5,000 or 10,000 person or 15,000 person groups.

We can almost handle that in-house without leaving the building where other properties need a whole city full of hotels to accommodate that.

So Intercontinental is going to be a big push (inaudible) for us, and I think it is going to have a positive effect on rates.

Are you guys still feeling better about Las Vegas in 2011?

I think we have mixed feelings.

Let's not get too emotional about Las Vegas.

It's still a struggle, and I think when group segment rates are still (inaudible) at $200 and (inaudible) do nothing, your numbers are numbers.

They haven't been all that (inaudible) (technical difficulty) move back to a better place, but I wouldn't expect huge numbers of anyone in this (inaudible).

I know this sounds contradictory considering the reputation of my relationship with Steve Wynn, but I'm hoping that Steve Wynn, who is great at creating a mystique about an opening, I hope he opens up a new property.

That will give Las Vegas a push.

A last question -- currencies -- I know China currency chance of moving Singapore's (inaudible) currency, what does that mean for you guys and what are you hoping for?

I would say that everything we read, we are helped right now by the weaker dollar and stronger Singapore dollar.

And as far as the China currency is concerned, we are also helped there as well.

So I don't think anybody really knows.

You can read every day.

You're more into it than we are in terms of currency management.

But right now we are in a very favorable situation with the money that comes in in Singapore dollars and the money in the Chinese currency.

So, I don't expect any negative surprises in there.

It should be all positive for us in '11.

Great guys.

Great earnings.

Thanks.

Rachael Rothman, SIG.

I think you guys were talking a bit about the Las Vegas environment.

Can you talk a little bit about the promotional environment on the casino side and whether or not you expect to see or how you would characterize the change in the market that you would expect to see from the opening of Cosmopolitan and maybe any changes in your marketing or promotional strategy around that as well?

Well, obviously a very intense promotional market in Las Vegas the last 24 months due to the downturn in the cash demand segment.

More people are giving away more things to casino customers (inaudible) our table, and that continues as we speak today.

In addition, obviously the cash segment is very competitive, as you saw with (technical difficulty) and everything you read, (inaudible) offers you would see anything personal.

So I think it's no surprise that Las Vegas is competitive on the cash rate side and due to lack of demand, that makes them more competitive on the comp rate side in additional offers.

We've cut back.

We continue to rethink our offers and how aggressive we want to be in the (inaudible) marketing.

The town is still aggressive.

I don't know how Cosmo -- I have no idea how that will play out, but it can't be helpful obviously.

(inaudible) more capacity in an already difficult market can't be a positive for the market.

How big a negative?

I just don't know.

But I think that you're going to see, in '11, a continued promotional landscape in the casino segment because the cash side is not holding up strong.

So more people turn to spot and tail marketing as a way to fill rooms.

We try to cut back and we try to play to our peer group, which we think is Wynn and Bellagio and the better hotel casinos, and (technical difficulty) also an all-suite product.

But it gets competitive, by anyone's definition, a lot more so than it was in 2008.

I don't know how that gets any better with additional capacity.

It's going to get worse, in my opinion.

On the gaming side, is it getting more promotional?

Are more promotional chips being offered, or is it just predominantly on the room rate side?

No, I think it is on the gaming side as well because of the lack of (inaudible) the cash segment, people are looking to fill their rooms up, right, so they're going to look to the gaming side and drop [through climates] for complementary rooms and discounted rooms and promotional giveaways, the tournaments, etc., There are a lot of promotions out there at all segments on the casino side as an alternative to the weak cash market.

So I think, if anything, it's gotten worse.

This summer was a difficult time of promotions and the competition is fierce.

So as we think about modeling next year in gaming revenue, would the pace of promotions have an impact on what we should think as the theoretical hold and would it be lower than it had been historically because of the increased promotional environment?

I don't think it [holds] impactfully the way (technical difficulty) on the table game side, it is not a hold issue nor in slot machines as far as promotional giveaways.

We are just going to cut back on offers and be more judicious in our thinking and hope that we can grow our business on the roof and the cash segments.

We are hoping Intercontinental deals, we are hoping better OTA approach and will also be slowing group business that offset [some on] the promotional side.

Sheldon alluded to -- earlier in the call, he alluded to the difficulties of just chasing market share.

I think that is part of the problem.

As you chase market share, the margins flip and it just adds more competitive pressure.

So at this property (inaudible) to reduce our gaming offerings and keep our revenues there.

On the table game side, honestly it's driven by -- primarily by Asian business anyway.

Our high-end business gets more important every day to us as a mix -- percentage mix on the table game side.

On the slot side, we are going to reduce our offer someone and be more judicious and hope to fill more rooms on the cash side.

I like to add a little bit just to emphasize what Rob said.

We are -- I personally am averse to this kind of promotion.

I think that this is the time that we can convert that into other paying customers rather than giving too many of these giveaway packages.

I think it diminishes our brand, and I don't think it does much for us except put people in rooms.

I remember Steve Wynn, our friend, said that he decided to try to fill up his rooms.

So, he said that every time people who stayed in his room, they went down to the bars and to the restaurants and they got sticker shock, so they went over to other places where they had previously been, the lower-end place, the budget places, and bought their food and did their playing over there.

So I unusually so agree with him, and I think it doesn't really do us that much good.

I've cut it down to 15% and I am now probably today and tomorrow going to cut it down to a maximum of 10%.

It's got to be certain high limit.

There's got to be a certain higher threshold for anybody to qualify.

Cameron McKnight, Buckingham Research.

Sheldon, on Japan, do you have any sense of what the market structure that could be on the table may look like?

Japan?

(multiple speakers) Japan.

What the market structure might look like.

In what respect?

In terms of number of concessionaires, whether a partner would be required, tax rate.

There is a two -- right now, they are talking about -- they were talking about three, but now they are focusing on two, Tokyo and Osaka.

We believe that we've got a leg up because, number one, I know that everybody was talking about another competitor of ours had $1.2 million in free cash.

I would like to say we have $3.2 billion in cash and access for up to $6 billion.

So we could do almost anything, buy any company, go develop any properties.

We are considered the leading contender because of the integrated resort model, both Macau and Singapore in that part of the world.

And we are very, very excited about Japan.

I keep going there every few weeks and meeting with the decision-makers.

We are also focusing on Korea.

I might say that while we are talking right now, one of our development people just finished a few days in Korea, and he is flying to a gaming investment meeting in Japan and Tokyo.

So we are very optimistic.

You know, they have Pachinko parlors there, but they don't want to recognize that those are really casinos.

They have other forms of gaming, like bug racing, horseracing, I believe football betting or soccer betting, and lotteries.

So it is not as though they aren't familiar with wagering; they are quite familiar with wagering.

They still have about 12,000 or 13,000 Pachinko parlors, and most of those are what we would call slot parlors.

Okay, great.

Thanks.

[John Ou], [Alpha].

You have an additional six months of data points on Singapore.

Could you share with us what is your renewed expectations on the market side?

Also, I guess for argument's sake as well, what is your view on your revenue share going forward?

I know your focus is on EBITDA, but just for argument's sake, what do you think -- where do you think (technical difficulty)?

Market in terms of gross revenue or money we could put in the bank?

Gross revenue.

It's tough to say, but I think our market share will be at least equal.

We are focusing on the high -end of the market I believe more so than what [Kenting] is.

[Kenting] is doing a very good job at (inaudible) by the way.

But they are just not experienced in granting credit.

They really want junket reps, and they are sponsoring a number of them.

As I said earlier, it's difficult to say, I don't want to put my foot in my mouth and get into trouble -- about the future.

It is true that I'm seeing the upside potential for us for more than $3 billion.

That was only in 2011.

So when we get to '12, I see that, with a major contribution from Singapore, we could be hitting $2 billion in '12 in Singapore, Singapore.

So it is very difficult to say.

As I said earlier, we are sailing in uncharted waters.

I personally believe that we have little baskets of the whole cornucopia of perspective players coming from many, many different countries.

We are not going to be affected like somebody mentioned currency effect before.

They are dealing in so many currencies that I don't think, if China really loosens up their currency or tightens up their currency, that they allow it to float.

I don't think it's going to have that much meaning.

It will have a big meaning in Macau and of course we are all in favor of that.

But I don't think it's going to have much meaning in Singapore because the business comes from too many countries.

Okay.

My other question was on your rebate and commissions.

I notice that, for the third quarter, it worked out to be about 1.3%.

Have we seen any trends at least in October?

Again, what are your expectations going forward on that?

Do you see that going up?

No.

We hope so.

We want to try to get it done.

That includes the comps, and a lot of those comps have to be spent with us.

So we get part of it back.

It's 0.1% comps, but I don't think it's an average of 1.3%.

I think it's somewhat substantially less than that.

Frankly, I haven't -- Rob, have you focused on that?

He's correct.

He is correct?

Yes, it's 1.3%.

1.3%?

Yes, (multiple speakers)

Just for the high end.

Okay.

(inaudible) market pressure -- to answer your question on any growth in that, that seems to be the (inaudible) raising commissions.

We don't anticipate a commission war between us and Kenting.

And if we do, we don't intend to lose.

All right.

Just my final question, just on the mass market, could you give us some color on the average daily foot traffic, if you have that number, and also roughly what is the percentage of local Singapore as your business, either from a foot traffic percentage or even from a revenue percentage, if you can just break that down for us?

Well, the percentage in Singapore (inaudible) casino is about 38%.

38%, and we are averaging about 22,000 to 24,000 people a day.

Am I correct in that?

Yes.

Dan put some (inaudible) shots in front of me and took my attention away.

But I recollect we are under 25,000 -- oh, here it is.

Most recent moving four-week period is 25,000 people.

(multiple speakers)

Okay, what about the percentage of revenue coming from the local market?

38%.

The percentage of revenue by person we don't have at this time between Singapore and the non-Singaporean in the (inaudible).

That may be something we can get in the future.

But today, we don't have that information.

It's interesting.

We are getting two-thirds of the attendants that are non-Singaporean.

So they are coming from somewhere.

I would suspect they were getting -- they were 36,000 or 38,000 rooms, hotel rooms, and they are all pretty good hotels.

There are no flophouses that I know of in Singapore.

They're all pretty good.

There are a lot of brand -- international brand names.

They (inaudible) some of them have multiple hotels.

I think that we get a lot of those people that come over by cab or any other away from these other properties because almost two-thirds of the attendants are coming (inaudible).

We are not bringing in a lot of the foreign from Malaysia.

Now, they could be coming to us.

But we still don't have a lot of -- but we have some buses, but not that many up and running.

So I think we are getting a lot and we will be getting more and more tour and travel.

In January, I believe, we have the Zee Oscar awards, Oscar equivalent awards from India, January 14.

If we have that, I mean, really when we had the IAFA, the Indian international -- IIFA, whatever -- the equivalent, another equivalent.

They have three or four Oscar type award programs.

Zee is one of them.

We are getting Zee.

We'll get tremendous publicity all over India.

I think that will give us a big boost from that deal.

Okay.

I guess just a final one -- thinking ahead, how should I be thinking about what you're going to be doing with the cash that you'll be generating out of Singapore?

It seems like, at the rate that EBITDA is chalking up, it's going to be very good.

Will you be looking to speed up the debt repayment, or would you be looking at potentially, say, paying a special dividend at some point back to the parent company?

Could you share with us, may be looking forward, what would you do?

We will do one from each column.

We will look to pay off our debt.

Bear in mind that our retail is ramping up.

As that ramps up, we will be able to -- if and when it ramps -- I say when, really -- it ramps to the point we expect it to, we could sell that and get enough -- get more money than what we need to pay our (inaudible) financing.

So as far as I'm concerned, in my own mind, we are all but paid off.

It's all over but they're shouting about having the capacity to pay it off.

At $1 billion-plus in EBITDA, there is a lot of cash flow they could pay off in just a very short period of time, $3.5 billion.

By the way, we always talk in US dollars.

We are not talking in local currency.

Chris Woronka, Deutsche Bank.

Just a quick one -- I don't think anyone asked about the margins of Venetian in Macau.

Is there any kind of notional limit there or target you have?

You set another record this quarter.

Just kind of thinking going forward what are some of the expense issues and where can that go with similar levels of gaming growth?

That's a good question.

As I said earlier, the higher the -- listen, we have resigned ourselves to dealing with the junket reps.

We have a good relationship with them.

I've had lunch with several of them.

It is okay.

They are doing a good job in Macau, and that is where we're at.

But the problem that we have is that (inaudible) -- it's rumored that MGM is going to do it.

They are going to start leasing out just to get the high end, the topline market share.

They are going to give out 3% of gross income for the sublicenses.

That's amazing, just amazing.

People are talking about, whether conjecturally or factually or whatever, they are talking about gross income.

What the heck does gross income mean when all you're taking is 3% out of the gross income?

I don't know how far we could get.

Bear in mind that they are still talking about the possibility of the government lowering the tax rate in Macau and as Singapore gets -- goes up, I can say there is business coming -- a lot of business coming from Hong Kong in China.

They are not the dominant countries.

Malaysia and Indonesia are the dominant countries in Singapore.

But as Singapore does more and more business and somebody had suggested -- it's all over the clippings that it is projected now, by 2012, that we will pass a Las Vegas trip in terms of gross income, in terms of revenue.

So in Macau, because of the tax rate, I don't know how much higher we can get.

But just take a seat-of-the-pants estimate, I don't think we can surpass 40%, 38% or 40%.

Do you, Rob?

No.

Mike, do you think so?

No.

I don't think so.

I mean, we have to really, really, really -- I mean, although we set several records in October, Golden Week -- Golden Week, our moving average is about where it should be.

Some months, we will have a higher number, sometimes a higher whole number, some months a lower whole number.

But a moving average just where it should be.

So I don't know where we are going to go on EBITDA margin.

Listen, we are doing the best we can.

We are trying to reduce expenses not only number of employees, we are trying to reduce outside expenses.

We are just about to hire a new General Counsel over there [extraordinarily] so we can keep some of our Hong Kong legal expenses down.

We are taking every step we can to get our costs in line.

Okay, great.

Thanks.

David Bain, Sterne Agee.

On Singapore, can you give us a sense as to what percentage of room nights in '11 and '12 may be MICE?

If you could also maybe an idea of weekday occupancy versus weekend at MBS?

We will be in the high 90s% or mid to high 90s% on weekends at MBS.

We are riding those occupancies now.

Hopefully, midweek occupancy would get into the 80s% at least in '11, better than that perhaps in '12 because of MICE ramp up.

I don't have the MICE room night situation for '11 and '12 in front of me at the moment, but our expectation is that we should be building up to roughly 300,000 room nights a year on MICE business as we get ramped up.

Probably '12 we will hit that, probably will be lower than that in '11.

The forward bookings are -- we are really starting to really get the credibility now, so that would be -- if you split the building up into various segments, tour business should be in the 700s, MICE business in the thousands, and then you've got 400 or 500 casino business and the rest is transient.

That is basically an overall look at it, and that is our target, to get to an occupancy that runs in the 90s%.

2012 will be a very interesting year because I think '12 is where the retail business will really start to move dramatically because the subway system will open that runs right into the retail area.

We are working on some other transportation mechanisms now to get people in there to drive that up as well.

So I think, by the time '12, we should be in a situation where we are getting the maximum out of a total facility, not counting the casino, of course, which will continue to grow.

Okay.

Then just two more, one on the metrics in October, given very strong for Singapore, obviously.

I know there's no official Golden Week in Singapore, but did you see an unusual increase in the IP volume maybe from mainland China?

Has there been any falloff since a holiday ended?

We did get significantly more play in the Golden Week period.

I can't tell you for sure whether it's from mainland China, but it was a better play.

But October has been very strong all the way through, not quite as strong as those two or three days.

Those two or three days (inaudible) the same days in Macau was sort of off the chart in terms of roll as well as mass.

But we have had very steady play all the way through October.

Then just the last one on -- we saw kind of the visitation volume and percentage year-over-year in Macau.

It dipped in September.

I know the revenue is good, so the quality of customer must have been good.

But I'm just trying to figure that out.

I mean, I know Moon Festival fell into September versus last year it didn't.

Maybe that's a family holiday.

I know it's back-to-school season.

But is there anything you guys have seen or something to look out for going forward in visitation?

You know, I saw that number yesterday about the September drop in visitation.

If it dropped, we didn't really feel it.

I mean, we had a very good September.

I don't remember what last September really was about.

I think, oftentimes, there is a drop before Golden Week.

People don't come in.

They wait for the Golden Week period to come in, which is in October, obviously.

But I looked at it.

It was a strange number to me.

I hadn't heard anything from our people over there, nor have we discussed it here because, frankly, the business was so good we didn't really pay much attention to that.

Okay.

And then I'm sure just looking at where you guys were in terms of room rates, October visitation looks like it was back to normal form in a way.

So far.

Okay.

All right.

Thanks, guys.

We still have five days to go.

Okay, thank you.

I just (inaudible) on the -- I think you are right on Singapore not having more of an official Chinese New Year.

But we did get an increase in business over that period, and we did get a number of customers from China, but not at the same percentage of Macau.

However, it was very good.

We have no complaints about it.

Dennis Forst, KeyBanc.

I wanted to ask Ken for capitalized interest in the quarter and what it's going to look like going forward.

Call me on that, I can give you the specifics on that.

I don't have that in front of me, but I can walk you through that.

Okay.

Thanks a lot, Ken.

Then next same thing -- on depreciation, I noticed that the Marina Bay Sands depreciation in the quarter was about $45 million.

That was well below what I thought it would be, given the size of the project.

Is that a fair number going forward or is there going to be some adjustments by the end of the year?

No.

I mean, that should be reflective of a full quarter of depreciation.

No, I would think, as the continued construction spend takes place and we've got probably another $250 million to spend through the end of this year and about $600 million of retainage payments that will go through next year, you'll see that number creep up based upon the total capitalized costs.

Okay, but it's not going to go up hugely from here?

That is pretty much hit on the first -- what was it -- $5 billion of investment?

Well, a little bit less than that, but yes.

Okay.

We can't depreciate close to $1 million in land.

(multiple speakers)

(multiple speakers)

(multiple speakers) if we have a flood, we could lose (inaudible).

Just kidding.

At the Marina Bay, what was the number of Rolling tables and Non-Rolling tables?

If you could o break those down?

In Singapore?

Yes, Rolling tables (inaudible).

We've got about 110 versus over 500.

So it's about one-sixth of the total tables there.

Okay.

Then Sheldon, can you clarify?

At the beginning, you were talking very fast about how strong October was at the Marina Bay Sands.

EBITDA growth rate or EBITDA in dollars is running what right now?

EBITDA (inaudible) we are at just about 50%.

Margin?

Margin, you were saying (multiple speakers)

Margin, EBITDA margin.

(inaudible -- microphone inaccessible)

Growth from September to October, I think I said what?

21% from September to October?

The numbers that Mr.

Adelson read were that gross gaming revenue at Marina Bay Sands was up 126% since May, reaching $8.4 million per day in October.

That is an annualized rate of $3.1 billion.

Okay.

$8.3 million per day.

$8.4 million per day, $3.1 billion annualized.

Okay.

Then I got the roll and the mass Wynn, the Handle, On Las Vegas, Rob said that the room rate next year is going to be in the $180, $190 range.

Is that up from this year?

What (multiple speakers)?

He said on the group side.

Yes, the group side.

How does the group side look this year in terms of rate?

We're about flat, give or take.

There's not a lot of [rooms] either way.

There's not much movement in the whole group segment the last 12 months (inaudible).

So somewhere around $180 for '09, '10 and 2011?

I can't speak to '09, but I know '10 and '11 will be the $180 and $190 (inaudible).

Not overall, not overall, just (inaudible).

Okay.

Also, Rob, the second-quarter call, you mentioned that retail sales I think the Canal Shoppes in June were up 56% above June of '09.

Can you give us an idea of how that business was in the third quarter?

I think you're confused because I didn't reference that because we don't own the mall.

I think he's referring to Macau.

This is something that Mike actually said on the last call where we were talking about June being up in Macau.

In Macau?

In Macau, the Grand Canal (multiple speakers).

Are you in Macau, Dennis, or are you here?

No, Macau.

Oh, Macau.

Yes, (inaudible) in Macau are up.

In fact, we are basically pretty close to signing an increase in our retail space from [DSS] for -- in the Four Seasons Mall for another I think it's 15,000 to 20,000 feet.

50,000.

50,000 feet, yes.

Because sales are very brisk, they are up considerably in Macau.

We did change some of our rental percentages, rental situations, during the drop in Macau a year or two ago.

But now it's started to come back pretty strong for us.

It in the third quarter, just quarter-over-quarter basis, the annualized sales per square foot are up about 25%.

Third-quarter year-over-year?

Yes.

Phenomenal.

Then what about the direct VIP business in Macau?

What percentage of your role is from direct play?

It's about a quarter?

A third?

What is it?

(inaudible -- microphone inaccessible)

Around the same as last quarter.

Okay.

Yes, which is about 25 --?

This is a process that a former CEO did.

That is Steve Jacobs.

We are not in agreement with that.

We believe that the junket reps own the market in Macau.

It diminishes our relationship or the value of our relationship with the junket reps.

So, we are not out proactively looking for direct business.

We still don't know how much it'd cost us in credit defaults, etc., etc.

Clearly, there is a lot more Chinese business in Macau from China, from mainland China, than there is in Singapore.

So it is more precarious for us to issue credit to China, an unlimited amount of credit to China.

So I think we are going to keep -- we are hoping to keep the direct business where it is.

I think it is somewhere between -- I've been calling it roughly about 25% to 30%.

We are going to try to keep it even at that point.

Okay.

Then last question.

The Wynn percentage in Las Vegas, was it pretty similar between the Venetian and the Palazzo?

I can answer that question.

[Cumulatively], you see the numbers 17.1 and it cost us about $19 million.

(inaudible) number?

Yes, we don't present them together.

We present then unified, and obviously if you look at the volume that play in Las Vegas, will be recipient of a lot of help from (inaudible) casinos in Asia.

(inaudible) about 4 points, 4.5 points against the norm.

So it cost about $19 million.

It doesn't really matter unless you lose table (inaudible) playing in the Venetian Plaza.

We treat them equally.

Okay.

Thanks a lot.

Dennis, the capitalized interest number is around $32 million for this quarter.

Okay.

And is it going up, Ken?

Yes, it will go up some because of the construction in Macau.

Yes.

So it will go up probably right through the fourth quarter of next year?

Correct.

Great.

Thanks so much.

At this time, I would like to turn the floor back over to Mr.

Mike Leven, President of Las Vegas Sands.

Thank you, operator, and thanks to all of you again for your questions and your interest today.

Just a couple of quick comments from me before I turn it back to Sheldon for final thoughts.

First, I want to mention that the focus on our cost control and efficiency that we emphasized over the last two years continues in the future.

You can be certain we will continue to watch our costs as we go forward, even as we turn attention increasingly towards revenue growth in all of our outlets.

Secondly, I want you all to know that we have been working very hard over the last two years to broaden and deepen the management team and to build the right management infrastructure that will allow the Company to make prudent management decisions and to achieve even greater levels of performance in the years ahead.

We want to prepare ourselves to repeat our current successes in additional emerging gaming jurisdictions.

Now, let me turn it over to Sheldon for final thoughts.

Thanks, Mike.

We just completed another outstanding quarter, generating record revenues and EBITDA in Macau, an outstanding [fiscal] quarter of operations from Marina Bay Sands in Singapore, and record revenues and EBITDA for the Company overall.

From my perspective, our operations are in outstanding shape, and we have clearly, as the Macau publication stated, separated ourselves from the pack.

We have never, in the history of our company, been better positioned to deliver strong growth in the future.

We have also significantly reduced our debt levels, and our balance sheet has over $3 billion of cash -- I think it's $3.2 billion -- providing significant financial flexibility and enabling us to continue our industry-leading growth strategy.

We would have up to $6 billion if we included our unused revolvers, I believe.

Am I correct on that, Ken?

Just a hair under that, but yes.

A hair under $6 billion, but who's counting?

We could not be more enthused about our business today and about our strong positioning for the future, with the quality of the assets that we have that have seen a bump in -- seen a thrust upward and particularly the uncovering of the new -- of an untouched market is helping [stage it] for Singapore.

I want to thank all of you for joining us.

We sincerely appreciate your interest and the support of our shareholders.

That is the end of our call.

Thank you very much.

Goodbye.

Thank you.

This does conclude today's conference call.

You may now disconnect.