Las Vegas Sands Stats

Hi everyone,

I've always been an avid casino-goes and now I'm doing research and writing about the casino industry. I thought I'd share some interesting facts and stats for Las Vegas Sands which just reported their quarterly financials last week. I hope you find them as interesting as I do!

Slot Hold - look at how much higher the casino slot hold is for the LV casinos, and Sands Bethlehem, versus their Asian casinos!
Venetian Macao 3.7%
Sands Cotai Central 3.5%
Parisian Macao 3.0%
Plaza Macao and Four Seasons 5.7%
Sands Macau 3.1%
Marina Bay Sands 4.4%
Las Vegas Operations 8.6%
Sands Bethlehem 6.4%


Slot Machine Win Per Unit Per Day - Have you ever wondered how much the casino wins per slot machine every day? Here's the answer, for the LVS casinos, anyway.
Venetian Macao $200
Sands Cotai Central $252
Parisian Macao $336
Plaza Macao and Four Seasons $491
Sands Macau $241
Marina Bay Sands $802
Las Vegas Operations $351
Sands Bethlehem $259


Table Games Win Per Unit Per Day - And here's the casinos' table wins per day. Check out the Macau casinos' win per table versus the U.S. casinos'!
Venetian Macao $14,975
Sands Cotai Central $12,077
Parisian Macao 12,634
Plaza Macao and Four Seasons $16,933
Sands Macau $8,521
Marina Bay Sands $9,184
Las Vegas Operations $3,489
Sands Bethlehem $3,066

If people in this forum find these type of stats interesting I'll post more from time to time - let me know what you think!

Eric

Quote: AnteResearch

Table Games Win Per Unit Per Day - And here's the casinos' table wins per day. Check out the Macau casinos' win per table versus the U.S. casinos'!

I bet we have Baccarat to thank for that.

Do you have any breakdowns by specific game?

I always find info like this intriguing.

Unfortunately, LVS does not provide a breakdown by type of table game.

For the casinos in Asia they do break down the drop and win on a rolling chip and non-rolling chip basis. And for their U.S. casinos they give some stats on the LV casinos and the Bethlehem, PA casino. Here's the U.S. data for the third quarter of 2018, which shows solid growth for the Venetian and Palazzo tables:

Table Games Drop
Las Vegas Operations 507
Sands Bethlehem 288

YOY Growth in Table Games Drop
Las Vegas Operations 26.4%
Sands Bethlehem -1.7%

Table Games Win % (win rate for the casinos)
Las Vegas Operations 14.7%
Sands Bethlehem 18.5%

I wonder if there's anything special about Marina Bay Sands' slots. Are they space limited; maybe their machine count is limited by the government?

Quote: AnteResearch

Slot Hold - look at how much higher the casino slot hold is for the LV casinos, and Sands Bethlehem, versus their Asian casinos!
Venetian Macao 3.7%
Sands Cotai Central 3.5%
Parisian Macao 3.0%
Plaza Macao and Four Seasons 5.7%
Sands Macau 3.1%
Marina Bay Sands 4.4%
Las Vegas Operations 8.6%
Sands Bethlehem 6.4%

I'm stunned at how low these percentages are. Can you please re-explain what you mean by 'casino slot hold'? On first glance I think you have made a mistake somewhere.....

And welcome to the forum.

Sure, these are the percentages that the casino holds for every dollar played. So if a casino's hold is 3.7% then that means or every $100 played the casino hold/win $3.70.

As gamblers, we typically see stats and ads for the payout rate, which is just "100% - the casino hold." So if a casino's hold is 3.7% then the payout rate would be 96.3%.

Hope this helps.

Quote: AnteResearch

Sure, these are the percentages that the casino holds for every dollar played. So if a casino's hold is 3.7% then that means or every $100 played the casino hold/win $3.70.

As gamblers, we typically see stats and ads for the payout rate, which is just "100% - the casino hold." So if a casino's hold is 3.7% then the payout rate would be 96.3%.

Hope this helps.

Thanks AR and welcome to the forum.

Those are some fascinating stats. Slot hold seems higher than I expected. I'd have thought less than 3%. Maybe it includes slots with some element of skill where any players are skill-less?

I would have to check, but I believe these stats are for all types of machines - slots, video poker and other types such as roulette, blackjack... and they are the average for the entire casino for the entire quarter, including all denominations.

And thanks for the kind welcome!

Quote: AnteResearch

Sure, these are the percentages that the casino holds for every dollar played. So if a casino's hold is 3.7% then that means or every $100 played the casino hold/win $3.70.

As gamblers, we typically see stats and ads for the payout rate, which is just "100% - the casino hold." So if a casino's hold is 3.7% then the payout rate would be 96.3%.

Hope this helps.

That is not how people use the world 'hold'. What you are describing is a house edge, or house advantage.
My interpretation is this.... If the average BJ player comes to the table with $1000 buy in, and on average leaves with $800, the 'hold' is 20%. The house edge per hand played may be 1.5%.
For slots I would interpret it the same way. The average player may feed $100 into the machine, and on average walk away with $65, so I would call the 'hold' 35%, even though the house edge per spin may have been only 6%.

Others here I hope will confirm my interpretation.

Quote: SOOPOO

That is not how people use the world 'hold'. What you are describing is a house edge, or house advantage.
My interpretation is this.... If the average BJ player comes to the table with $1000 buy in, and on average leaves with $800, the 'hold' is 20%. The house edge per hand played may be 1.5%.
For slots I would interpret it the same way. The average player may feed $100 into the machine, and on average walk away with $65, so I would call the 'hold' 35%, even though the house edge per spin may have been only 6%.

Others here I hope will confirm my interpretation.

Good point.
https://www.casinopedia.org/terms/h/hold-percentage

Quote: SOOPOO

That is not how people use the world 'hold'. What you are describing is a house edge, or house advantage.
My interpretation is this.... If the average BJ player comes to the table with $1000 buy in, and on average leaves with $800, the 'hold' is 20%. The house edge per hand played may be 1.5%.
For slots I would interpret it the same way. The average player may feed $100 into the machine, and on average walk away with $65, so I would call the 'hold' 35%, even though the house edge per spin may have been only 6%.

Others here I hope will confirm my interpretation.

Slots machines are calculated differently than table games. On slot machines you know exactly how much the patron has wagered so the calculation is based on the wagered amount and not the buy in amount. If the patron put a $100 bill in a slot machine and spun the reels 100 times at $3 per spin and cashed out $65. The win is still $35 but the hold percentage is 11.6% (35/300).

Quote: DRich

Slots machines are calculated differently than table games. On slot machines you know exactly how much the patron has wagered so the calculation is based on the wagered amount and not the buy in amount. If the patron put a $100 bill in a slot machine and spun the reels 100 times at $3 per spin and cashed out $65. The win is still $35 but the hold percentage is 11.6% (35/300).

Then it is less than useless to compare the two, or include them in any meaningful analysis. According to your definition, slot 'hold' and slot 'house edge' will always be by definition the same. While table game 'hold' is substantially different from table game 'house edge'. I believe the table game definition is more usable by a casino in figuring out how valuable a patron is.

Quote: SOOPOO

Then it is less than useless to compare the two, or include them in any meaningful analysis. According to your definition, slot 'hold' and slot 'house edge' will always be by definition the same. While table game 'hold' is substantially different from table game 'house edge'. I believe the table game definition is more usable by a casino in figuring out how valuable a patron is.

What DRich wrote and your understanding above are correct. It is confusing that "hold percentage" is defined differently for tables and slots. For what little it's worth, while players see just one casino, in the industry tables and slots are completely different worlds with their own departments and terminology.

For calculating the value of a patron, the bottom line is "theoretical loss" or just "theo." This is based on time played, house edge, and average bet.

Regarding the Sands, I know too much to comment, but you have to give Sheldon Adelson credit for breaking into profitable markets.

Quote: AnteResearch

Table Games Win Per Unit Per Day - And here's the casinos' table wins per day. Check out the Macau casinos' win per table versus the U.S. casinos'!
Venetian Macao $14,975
Sands Cotai Central $12,077
Parisian Macao 12,634
Plaza Macao and Four Seasons $16,933
Sands Macau $8,521
Marina Bay Sands $9,184
Las Vegas Operations $3,489
Sands Bethlehem $3,066

On any given day, particularly weekdays, there may be a number of tables in a casino that are not used. So are the above 'table wins' only for tables that were open during the day or are they averaged across all tables?