The executive director of Las Vegas Sands, who owns casinos in Macau, states that China and the US “only have to win” with the trade truce between the two countries.
© Lusa
09/10/2026
by
Lusa
O executive director of the US company Las Vegas Sands, which owns casinos in the Chinese region of Macau, said China and the United States “can only win” with the trade truce.
At the end of September, the two countries agreed to extend until 10 January 2027 the trade truce reached in October 2025 and would expire on 10 November.
“ The two largest economies in the world have only to gain by finding better ways to collaborate and invest mutually, generating beneficial results for both sides,” said Patrick Dumont.
“ The economies of both countries can benefit from better relations, more investment and more exchanges,” the executive added in an interview with the Bloomberg financial news agency, released today.
“ Hopefully this will continue in the long term and that we can reap the fruits, because tourism is a fantastic sector that brings people together”, he defended, in the Chinese semi-autonomous region of Macao.
However, the revenues of the game in Macau recorded in September the fourth consecutive month with annual falls, falling 17.5% to the lowest value of the last two years: 18.1 billion patacas (€1.97 billion).
Still, Patrick Dumont said he remains optimistic about the prospects for the territory, the world capital of casinos and the only place in China where casino gambling is legal.
“ For us, investing in Macau is something we really want to do. We are very excited about our investments in areas beyond the game,” said Las Vegas Sands executive director, Sands China’s mother company.
Dumont spoke before the Dallas Mavericks – the team he owns – played the first of two pre-season games in the NBA basketball league, with the Houston Rockets in Venetian Macau, a hotel-casino in Sands China.
At the end of 2024, Sands China signed an agreement with the NBA to hold two pre-season games each year in Macao, until 2029, after years of disruption between the league and China.
In addition to Sands China, five other concessionaires, MGM, Galaxy, Melco, Wynn and SJM operate in Macau, which renewed the concession contract for the next ten years in December 2023.
At the time, the six operators committed themselves to investing “more than 100 billion patacas” (11.1 billion euros) in elements not linked to the game.
Sands China has promised to invest 33.4 billion patacas (€3.69 billion), including the creation of an iconic winter garden with 50,000 square meters.
In an interview with Macau Daily News, published on Tuesday, the president of Sands China, Grant Chum Kwan Lock, ensured that the project will advance.
“ We will continue to invest in facilities and infrastructure, including the winter garden provided for in our gaming contract, which we believe will become a new milestone of Macau after completion ", said Chum.
Patrick Dumont said he believed that, in the long term, “these initiatives will (...) create unique experiences that will bring visitors back to Macau and bring more tourists from more distant places”.
The overwhelming majority of the nearly 29 million visitors who arrived in Macao in the first eight months of the year came either from mainland China (21.5 million) or the neighbouring Hong Kong region (4.9 million).
The government demanded casino operators to bet on other markets and also the Tourism Services Directorate has promoted Macau abroad, including in Portuguese-speaking countries.