Las Vegas Sands folds on Wyandotte County casino

After fighting its way back into the Wyandotte County casino gamble early this year, Las Vegas Sands Corp. has pulled out its $777 million bid.

The company (NYSE: LVS) attributed its decision to the effect of proposed loss limit elimination in Missouri combined with increased borrowing costs, and having a “current pipeline of attractive developments already in place” plus other potential opportunities waiting, according to a release Tuesday evening.

“As we pursue our development plans and evaluate potential opportunities around the globe, we constantly review those plans to determine which ones are the most beneficial for the company, its shareholders and our employees, as well as the communities in which we intend to operate,” Sands President William Weidner said in the release. “Our proposed development plans for Kansas included significant investment in a world-class integrated resort facility. It now appears that proposed statutory changes in Missouri will allow gaming operators there to significantly increase the amounts being wagered at their competing facilities. This change, together with the increased borrowing costs in today’s financial marketplace, significantly decreases the expected returns from our proposed development in Kansas and limits our ability to generate appropriate risk-adjusted returns on the proposed investment vis-à-vis our expected returns on our other global investment opportunities.”

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Spurred by the threat of a Kansas casino in an already crowded Kansas City-area gaming market, Missouri casinos in the springlaunched a campaign asking voters to punt a unique law that caps at $500 the value of chips or tokens gamblers can buy in a two-hour period.

Sands’ withdrawal of a $777 million resort casino leaves four contenders for a state-owned, privately managed destination casino in Wyandotte County. A Lottery Gaming Facility Review Board is choosing one for the county; proposers’ final presentations are in mid-August.

The remaining proposals include:

• A $792 million plan by Legends Sun, by RED Development LLC and Mohegan Sun

• A $705.6 million plan by The Cordish Co. and Kansas Speedway

• A $687 million plan by Golden Gaming Inc.

• A $648.6 million plan by Pinnacle Entertainment Inc.

Las Vegas-based Sands owns and operates The Venetian Resort-Hotel-Casino and others around the world, and is building casino resorts in Bethlehem, Pa., and Singapore.

The company failed to get the necessary local endorsement from the Unified Government of Wyandotte County/Kansas City, Kan., before the deadline at the end of last year.

But state lottery officials changed their reading of the rules, extending the deadline for getting local endorsement. Sands submitted new proposals for Edwardsville and Kansas City, Kan. The Unified Government decided not to consider Sands’ new proposal, which was similar in location and concept to the first one. But Edwardsville endorsed the proposal.