KUALA LUMPUR (Sept 4): The Genting group was at the height of a huge expansion when it was hit by the Covid-19 pandemic, which caused a strain on its financials. Now, all eyes are on its Las Vegas investment that is supposed to give it a lift.

The group’s mainstay — Genting Bhd — was in the midst of completing a US$4.3 billion (RM17.8 billion) resort and casino construction in Las Vegas.

Its 49.5% associate Genting Malaysia Bhd (GenM) was finishing a US$800 million (RM3.3 billion) new outdoor theme park in Genting Highlands and a 400-room hotel in New York. In Singapore, Resorts World Sentosa (RWS), which is under Genting Singapore Ltd, was undertaking a mega expansion of some S$4.5 billion (RM13.9 billion) called RWS 2.0.

It was the worst of times for Genting group chairman and group chief executive officer Tan Sri Lim Kok Thay. In an unprecedented turn of events, the group’s casino, entertainment and resort operations spanning from the US to the UK and Hong Kong were forced to cease operations starting from March last year due to the pandemic.

By end-2019, Genting already forked out US$1.9 billion (RM7.9 billion) and needed to raise at least another US$2 billion (RM8.3 billion) to complete the most expensive casino and resort in Las Vegas.

With the Resort World Las Vegas (RWLV) opening its doors to business in June this year, will things improve for the group?

It was reported that in the first six days since its reopening, RWLS drew an estimated 20,000 visitors, 5,000 VIPs guests and its hotel occupancy averaged 71.2%. The Las Vegas operations chalked a revenue of US$14.9 million (RM61.1 million) and contributed earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortisation (EBITDA) of US$3.9 million (RM15.5 million) to Genting.

This means the RWLV drew an average of about RM2.6 million in EBITDA per day for the first six days after its opening.

But can the RWLV continue to be a crowd-puller in the highly competitive Las Vegas market?

What are the group’s other plans for its various businesses, including its resorts in the US?

Find out more in The Edge Malaysia weekly’s Sept 6 edition.

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