New York (AP) -- Shares of Las Vegas Sands Corp. slipped Wednesday as a Lehman Brothers analyst downgraded the casino operator's stock, saying it is too expensive. Analyst Felicia Hendrix wrote in a client note that she views Las Vegas Sands as a "concept" stock, based on growth opportunities in China/Asia and unknown potential in Macau. She also wrote that she can't come up with a new price target on concepts and is "uncomfortable with chasing the stock."

Land development plans for the Sands BethWorks casino, hotel and conference center, got final approval from the Bethlehem Planning Commission this week at the conclusion of a six-hour meeting. Las Vegas Sands Corp. will now be able to pursue a building permit to begin construction of its USD 600 million complex with 3,000 slot machines, a 12-story hotel with 300 rooms, an upscale shopping center and an events center with up to 3,800 concert seats. The casino developers hope to have the project built by the middle of 2009.

Atlantic City will say goodbye tomorrow night to what’s left of the old Sands Casino. An implosion will bring down the 21-story hotel tower in just seconds. After a six minute fireworks show Thursday night, the Sands will be turned to dust. By drilling holes into concrete columns and loading them with explosives, demolition crews were preparing to implode the Sands casino. Tourists were taking pictures Tuesday of the casino because soon it will be gone forever.

Atlantic City - Change is in the seaside air here. The tiny Sands Hotel Casino, which had a loyal following among mostly older clientele, will be imploded Thursday. After that piece of the past is blown away, a USD 1.5 billion casino run by Pinnacle Entertainment Inc., of Las Vegas, will take its place. On the northern end of the Boardwalk, the Wall Street firm Morgan Stanley will top that with a USD 2 billion mega-casino with two hotel towers.

Atlantic City, New Jersey - Everything about the new casino that's going to replace the former Sands Casino Hotel is designed to be Vegas-style , right down to the demolition of its predecessor. Old casinos in Las Vegas are routinely brought down with explosives in a choreographed spectacle that draws thousands of onlookers. Next month, Atlantic City will see its first casino implosion , complete with a world-famous Grucci fireworks display and laser light show to serve notice that not everything that happens in Vegas stays in Vegas.

Interest in the growing Macau casino market fueled investors’ actions regarding shares of two gaming operators during August. Las Vegas Sands opened the USD 2.4 billion Venetian Macau last week, and Wynn Resorts reported better-than-expected earnings in early August. Both companies recorded double-digit increases in their average daily share prices during the month. The stock prices of other companies weren’t so lucky.

Las Vegas Sands Corp.’s billionaire Chairman Sheldon Adelson opened the world’s biggest casino in Macau and unveiled ambitions to expand in India and Japan as Asian gambling booms. The new 3,000 room Venetian Macao resort aims to tap China’s 1.3 billion people, and Adelson said he’s also keen on opening in the world’s second-most populous nation. "We are very much interested in, one, attracting Indians to come to Macau, and two, establishing in India, when the government makes the necessary changes,”...

The cost of Singaporean first casino development could rise up to 40 percent in a struggle to keep the project on budget, reports said. Today newspaper quoted the CEO of Las Vegas Sands as saying the original us$ 3.6 billion cost of the development could swell by as much as USD 1.44 billion. The cost could rise by "20 to 40 percent," Las Vegas Sands president and CEO William Weidner was quoted as saying in Macau.

New York (AP) -- Shares of casino operators traded mostly higher Wednesday as shares of Las Vegas Sands Corp. rallied behind the debut of the Venetian Macao Hotel Resort and a Dubai World unit started a tender offer for shares of MGM Mirage. A day after the opening of the USD 2.4 billion Venetian Macao, Goldman Sachs analyst Steven Kent was still cheering the megaresort's operations. In a second assessment of the property, Kent said in a client note that the Venetian Macao has a large number of enthusiastic employees and a diverse customer base.

Administration officials confirmed that Sheldon Adelson, majority owner of the Las Vegas Sands Casino and one of the US wealthiest individuals, has personally held discussions with Governor Deval L. Patrick’s economic development secretary about the state’s pending decision whether to legalize casino gambling.

New York (Reuters) - Wynn Resorts Ltd. said on Thursday it plans to slow expansion at its Macau casino amid increasing competition and slowing travel to the Chinese gambling haven. Wynn also said its board of directors approved a program that will allow it to buy back up to USD 1.2 billion in stocks and convertible bonds.

Singapore's first casino, the Marina Bay Sands, marked its progress in a ground-breaking ceremony on Thursday, with project executives confirming that it will open by the end of 2009 as scheduled. The event was attended by National Development Minister Mah Bow Tan and top executives of Las Vegas Sands (LVS), including chairman and chief executive officer Sheldon Adelson and president and chief operating officer William Weidner.