Genting Singapore trails MBS, but helps anchor Malaysian parent group’s finances

[KUALA LUMPUR] Genting Singapore may be losing ground to Marina Bay Sands, but it remains an important contributor to its Malaysian parent at a time when the gaming and leisure giant’s credit ratings are under pressure.

Genting Berhad sits at the lowest investment-grade rating with three major agencies. Moody’s downgraded Genting Berhad to Baa3 in December 2025, and S&P Global Ratings lowered its rating in the same month to BBB- with a negative outlook.

Fitch Ratings also cut Genting Berhad’s long-term issuer default rating to BBB- on Sep 8. It cited heavy capital spending on casino expansion projects in New York and Singapore, a slower earnings ramp-up in New York and a gradual recovery elsewhere in the group’s gaming operations.

In a September report, S&P warned that the group faces a “fallen angel” risk – standing just a notch above speculative grade – if earnings weakness persists amid heavy expansion spending.

Against this backdrop, Genting Singapore’s role as a key revenue contributor to Bursa-listed Genting Berhad has become more significant.

Going by contributions to the group’s total revenue by its leisure and hospitality segment, the Malaysia operations led with more than RM3.8 billion (US$930 million). This was closely followed by Singapore and the US and the Bahamas at nearly RM3.8 billion each, and the UK and Egypt operations contributing just under RM1 billion.

However, in external revenue in the first half of 2026, Singapore and the US and the Bahamas each generated nearly RM3.8 billion, ahead of Malaysia’s RM3.4 billion. External revenue excludes transactions between Genting group companies.

Nevertheless, Malaysia continues to yield the highest profit margins, leading the group with RM1.4 billion in adjusted earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortisation (Ebitda). The figure was RM1.2 billion for Singapore, and roughly RM600 million for the US and the Bahamas.

Diversified across geographical markets

Samuel Yin, associate director at Maybank Investment Bank, said Genting’s operations across its markets are “affected by very different factors”.

In its home-base market in Malaysia, the group runs a mature mountain resort catering predominantly to mass-market gamblers.

Singapore and the UK, on the other hand, have greater exposure to international and premium customers.

In New York, Genting is betting on a huge pool of local gaming demand; in Las Vegas, it has to compete for tourists, convention-goers and high rollers in one of the world’s most competitive casino markets.

These differences mean Genting operates a diversified model. Take the Malaysia operations for example. Its advantage partly lies in a business model developed over decades. Resorts World Genting (RWG) mainly serves the mass market, with its relatively affordable offering giving it a broad customer base, insulated from the fluctuations in premium gaming.

“Malaysia is probably the strongest right now,” Yin said, basing his assessment on the returns from gaming operations.

But even that resilience has limits. CGS International analyst Chelsea Chew pointed to softer consumer spending and fewer visitors at RWG, and Yin said persistent inflation is beginning to put pressure on the business.

The contrast is more pronounced in markets that lean more heavily on VIP gamblers.

New York: Another kind of diversification

Rather than depending primarily on international high rollers, Resorts World New York City (RWNYC) gives Genting access to a large local and regional gaming market.

Yin described New York as a “very promising business”, pointing out that New Yorkers historically travelled to Pennsylvania, Connecticut and New Jersey to gamble. The expansion of casino gaming in New York allows some of that spending to be captured closer to home.

That makes RWNYC strategically significant beyond its potential size. It diversifies Genting not merely geographically, but by customer base.

The introduction of full commercial casino operations in April transformed the property from one largely restricted to electronic gaming into a casino offering live table games and commercial slots.

Chew said gaming volumes surged after the conversion, and the management expects RWNYC’s revenue to eventually surpass RWG’s.

But becoming Genting’s largest casino operation by revenue does not necessarily make New York its best-performing investment. The property remains in expansion mode, requiring spending on additional tables, slots, VIP facilities and broader development.

Chew expects these costs to suppress near-term margins. Hong Leong Investment Bank’s Chee Kok Siang pointed out that the higher US ramp-up costs had contributed to a “disproportionately weaker” recovery in Genting Malaysia’s core earnings relative to its revenue growth.

The contrast with RWG is instructive: Malaysia shows the economics of a casino ecosystem built over decades; New York shows how expensive it can be to create the next one.

So although New York may offer Genting its clearest avenue for growth, capturing that opportunity will come only at a substantial cost.

Fitch Ratings expects capital expenditure at Genting New York to average about US$800 million annually over the medium term, with US$3.7 billion of the US$4.4 billion pledged for the expansion still to be deployed over the next five years. The ratings agency expects this spending to pressure its credit metrics during construction.

However, Fitch sees RWNYC benefiting from a first-mover advantage in a densely populated, high-income and underserved gaming market, with Ebitda that could hit US$450 million by 2028 as the casino scales up.

Las Vegas, a cautionary case

Resorts World Las Vegas (RWLV) illustrates the risk when a large investment does not translate quickly into attractive returns.

There, the demand drivers are different. Yin characterised RWLV as convention-driven, given that many visitors visit the city for events rather than gambling alone.

Convention demand has provided some resilience, but “has not been sufficient to lift the Las Vegas property”, he said.

Yin described RWLV as continuing to be a drag on Genting’s overall returns, despite signs of operational improvement: Genting reported stronger convention attendance and high-end gaming in Q2, and its hotel occupancy rose to 88 per cent.

The China impact

Yin said Singapore’s gaming industry benefited significantly after the pandemic as the city-state attracted new wealth and capital, much of it from China.

But that tailwind has weakened because China’s property downturn has eroded household wealth; Beijing’s clampdown on conspicuous consumption, its longstanding anti-corruption campaign and capital controls have also weighed on spending by wealthy Chinese.

“Falling property prices destroy wealth,” Yin said, adding that the combination of these factors has weighed on the VIP gaming market.

The impact extends beyond Singapore. Yin described Genting’s UK operations as similarly exposed to VIP customers, including gamblers from China and the Middle East.

Genting’s UK and Egypt operations, for example, reported weaker premium gaming business in the second quarter amid tensions in the Middle East, on top of rising payroll costs.

The economy matters, not just geographical spread

Geographical diversification does not necessarily insulate a casino operator from economic shocks. Casinos thousands of kilometres apart can ultimately depend on the same pool of international wealth.

Taken together, Genting’s casino empire is therefore less a collection of similar properties than a portfolio of different wagers, said Maybank’s Yin.

Fortunately for Genting Berhad, its home market of Malaysia offers an important counterweight within the portfolio: Its fortunes are more closely tied to mass-market tourism and consumer spending than to the volatile international VIP segment.

But in the medium-term, until other investments mature, if Genting Berhad hopes to turn its fortunes around, much will depend on whether its expansion plans in Singapore are successful.