LVS CEO Sheldon Adelson told reporters at the Sands China AGM on Saturday that Lot 5&6 is still on track for opening in 3Q next year, despite problems with getting around labor quota and gaming table restrictions. His Macau CEO, Steve Jacobs, meanwhile said the company has applied to the government for permission to move its Four Seasons apartments into a special-purpose vehicle so that they can be sold.

Analysis: It might be encouraging to believe that Sands has decided to take the more humble approach to development in Macau by actually asking the government to approve the sale of apartments that are not covered by its land concession. We had been under the impression until now that management thought it could just get around the strata-title prohibition by selling shares in a corporation that guaranteed ownership rights over a defined area of square footage in a residential development. Is this the start of a new conciliatory approach? Alas, Adelson is who he is, and when asked about the table caps, he said that the government’s decision to place a limit of 5,500 tables on all concessionaires was “probably not” good for the industry. He also said that giving him the necessary quotas for imported labor would be the “right thing to do” for the government, because if it didn’t, local workers would inevitably be laid off when projects were suspended. Sigh. We don’t see Lot 5&6 opening in 3Q or even 4Q next year if this.

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