Sands China CEO and President Grant Chum said Macao was diversifying its economy away from gaming to grow to be “a city of sports and … a city of entertainment,” during Chinese President Xi Jinping’s visit to the town that concluded Friday.
In an interview on “Squawk Box Asia,” Chum cited a deal announced in early December between Sands China and North America’s National Basketball Association to play two NBA pre-season games in China.
“We’ll be bringing the NBA China games back to China, but this time in Macao,” Chum told CNBC’s Emily Tan. “We don’t desire simply to do a one-off event. We imagine that a multi-year partnership, where we will be playing these pre-season games over several years, goes to essentially bolster Macao’s positioning.”
The games are a part of Sands China’s commitment to speculate $4.5 billion into the town through 2032, of which “over 90% … shall be in non-gaming investments,” said Chum.
Collectively, the six gaming operators of Macao — China’s special administrative region — pledged to speculate nearly $15 billion to make its economy less depending on gambling revenue. The operators’ gaming licenses were renewed in 2022 — albeit for 10 years, as an alternative of 20 — after each promised to speculate heavily in non-gaming projects.

But for some, the transformation is not coming fast enough.
In a speech in Macao Friday, Xi praised the special administrative region before setting forth “three expectations” of the town, including a request to “keep pace with the trends of the times,” while demonstrating “greater courage in reform and innovation,” in line with a transcript provided by China’s State Council.
Xi also urged the town to make steps to draw more foreign talent, a sentiment echoed by Allan Zeman, non-executive chairman of Wynn Macao, Thursday on “Squawk Box Asia.”
Constructing Macao’s brand
Chum said Sands China has already delivered on one major project — the renovation of the 14,000-person Venetian Arena, formerly often called the Cotai Arena, in November.
“We invested over $200 million U.S. in the basic upgrade and renovation of the Venetian Arena,” he said. “This facility shall be state-of-the-art, not only for exhibitions and conventions, but in addition live music concert events and likewise increasingly major sporting events.”

The Venetian Arena will host the NBA pre-season games starting in 2025. The primary two games, between the Brooklyn Nets and Phoenix Suns, are set for October, NBA deputy commissioner Mark Tatum said earlier this month.
Chum said those games will increase Macao’s standing as a destination for major global events.
“We expect over time, that is going to construct Macao’s brand equity,” he told CNBC.
Chum said Macao’s gaming revenue has recovered to about 80% of 2019 levels, while tourist arrivals — which he called “the one most vital health indicator for the tourism economy” — reached pre-pandemic levels in August and October.
Friday marked the twenty fifth anniversary since Portugal handed Macao back to China in December of 1999.
The NBA deal also marks the return of pre-season games to China for the primary time since 2019. In October of that yr, China abruptly ended an arrangement to broadcast pre-season games within the country over a tweet made by the then-general manager of the Houston Rockets, Daryl Morey, that expressed support for anti-Beijing protestors in Hong Kong.
Correction: This text has been updated to accurately reflect Portugal’s handover of Macao to China 25 years ago.