A major casino development in Macau has been put on hold recently, and as many as 11,000 workers involved in the project may need to be laid off, as the global slowdown in the economy appears to have affected even the Asian gambling industry.
Las Vegas Sands, the company operating the gambling resort in the Chinese enclave, has said that it is facing a cash crunch, with revenues falling as gamblers face their own financial problems and have less disposable income.
The company has been hit by a slowdown in the US and Asian economies, and has seen its share values plummet over the past year from $122 down to just $6.
The company had hoped to invest $13 billion into the hotel and gaming resort on the Cotai Strip, but have been forced to put the plans on hold.
When he announced the decision, Sands’ president for Asia, Stephen Weaver, was quick to emphasize that the plans were just on hold, and that they would re-start construction at some point in the future. Weaver said: “We’ve got $1.2 billion sunk into the ground; we’re not going to walk away from it. I think there’s no possibility that it’s never going to start again.”
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