UPDATE: Las Vegas Sands Sees No Need To Work With Singapore-Type Junkets - CEO

Las Vegas Sands Corp. (LVS) isn't interested in working with Singapore-licensed junket operators to bring gamblers to its casino there because the U.S. gaming group already has sales representatives that perform similar roles, Chief Executive Sheldon Adelson said Thursday.

Adelson's comments come after Singapore's casino regulator last month issued its first-ever junket-operator licenses to two agents working with rival gaming company Genting Singapore PLC's (G13.SG) Resorts World Sentosa--one of Singapore's two licensed casinos, alongside Las Vegas Sands' Marina Bay Sands.

"In Singapore, they call (their licensed junket operators) international marketing agents because that's all they are. They are salespeople...they can't provide credit, they can't share their commission, so they are the equivalent of our more than 100 salespeople," Adelson told analysts during an earnings call.

"There's no reason for us to go after that kind of junket, that kind of (international marketing agents)," the executive said.

Singapore's long-awaited move to issue junket licenses came more than two years after the opening of its first-ever casino resort, Resorts World Sentosa, in February 2010. Analysts and Genting Singapore executives have said the move is vital for the local gaming market's next phase of growth.

The newly minted junket promoters, who were endorsed by Genting Singapore, are permitted to bring high-spending overseas gamblers to Resorts World Sentosa in exchange for commission. Contrary to Adelson's comments, Singapore's Casino Regulatory Authority has said these promoters can issue credit to clients.

While junkets--a linchpin in Macau's gaming industry--do cut into casino margins, they can help drive business volume, as well as reduce credit risk and chances of bad debt, because they can be more familiar with clients' financial standings.

"At this point, we don't see enough importance to jump into (Singapore-licensed junkets)," Robert Goldstein, Las Vegas Sands' president of global gaming operations, said during the earnings call. "But we'll keep looking at it, and obviously we won't be disadvantaged if there's an opportunity there."

In the meantime, the group doesn't think Resorts World Sentosa "has any advantage over us" with its two junket promoters. Marina Bay Sands can tap its own sales representatives, Adelson said.

Las Vegas Sands executives previously said Marina Bay Sands has yet to sponsor junket-license applications.

Singapore casino regulators last month said they are currently reviewing additional junket-license applications but didn't specify if Marina Bay Sands has endorsed any of them.

The group, in statement issued late Wednesday, said Marina Bay Sands' first-quarter earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation, and amortization rose 66.1% from a year earlier to US$472.5 million thanks to broad-based growth across its businesses.

-By Chun Han Wong, Dow Jones Newswires; [phone]; [e-mail]