Adelson says VIPs will remain under the radar

Las Vegas Sands CEO Sheldon Adelson said high-rollers will keep a low profile until the Chinese government’s “witchhunt” is called off.

Speaking at the Institute for Tourism Studies in Macau, Adelson said big gamblers are conscious of drawing attention to themselves and will continue to try stay off the government’s radar, the Macau Business Daily reported.

VIP's “will stay low and will not be conspicuous in their spending habits until the witch-hunt - or whatever it is called, the crackdown on corruption levels – goes down”, he was quoted as saying when asked about Macau’s declining revenues.

“They want to stay below the visibility radar because nobody, whether they are legitimate business people making millions or billions of dollars, wants to come in and be ostentatious”, he added.

Adelson said President Xi Jinping’s measures to curb graft is also deterring premium mass market players who can bet between $5,000 and $100,000. But the 81-year-old tycoon expressed optimism that business in Macau will bounce back.

“Now, everything in life is cyclical. Night follows day, day follows night, recession follows expansion and expansion follows recession. Everything is cyclical. This, too, will pass - and this, too, will be cyclical,” he said.

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