TheVegasEye.com

Las Vegas Sands Corp., the world's largest casino company by market value, may borrow about $7 billion to expand and refinance debt for projects in Macau, according to three people familiar with the deal. The company is in talks with lenders for the deal, which would be its biggest outstanding loan, to help fund new casinos and hotels in the former Portuguese colony, said the people, who declined to be identified because the information isn't public. It may also replace $3.3 billion of loans taken in 2006 to finance its Venetian casino resort in the city, the people said. The loan will help Las Vegas Sands fund $12 billion in spending on a 20,000-room hotel and casino complex in Macau, the place that overtook the Las Vegas Strip in 2006 as the world's biggest gambling hub. Las Vegas Sands shares fell to the lowest in 2 1/2 years and have shed more than half their value in 2008. ``Demand for gaming in Macau is still growing fairly well, but supply is an issue,'' said Gabriel Chan , an analyst at Credit Suisse Group in Hong Kong. ``The growth of supply is just outrageous. This, together with rising labor costs and inflation, will put further pressure on every casino operator in the next couple of years.'' Macau, the only region in China where gambling is legal, has also drawn investors including Wynn Resorts Ltd. and MGM Mirage. Credit Suisse expects the supply of gaming tables in Macau to increase by 30 percent next year, outpacing the 20 percent expansion the Swiss bank forecast for demand, Chan said. Las Vegas Sands dropped $2.43, or 5.4 percent, to $42.44 by 4:05 p.m. in New York Stock Exchange trading, the lowest price since January 2006. The shares have plunged 59 percent this year. ``The company does not comment on rumor or speculation,'' Las Vegas Sands' spokesman Ron Reese said today in a telephone interview. If Las Vegas Sands has anything to report, it will file the information with the Securities and Exchange Commission, he said.