Singapore casino resort Marina Bay Sands has risen from fifth spot to top globally, in terms of “brand -value” ranking in the “Gambling 25 2024” report from United Kingdom-based Brand Finance Plc.

Eight other casino brands with a presence in Asia Pacific – either via operating company name or resort name – are in the top 25. So are four gaming equipment supply brands.

The ranking produced by the valuation consultancy seeks to measure the top 25 most valuable gambling brands by a number of factors, including “royalty relief”. That is tied to the value a company would be willing to pay to license its brand if it did not already own it.

The report authors put the brand value of Marina Bay Sands (pictured) – run by United States-based Las Vegas Sands Corp – at just over US$6.16 billion, with a brand rating of ‘AAA+’, which they define as “extremely strong”.

The brand value figure is up 89.5 percent on the property’s 2023 valuation under the ranking.

“The resort’s status as a key landmark in Singapore, akin to iconic structures like the Eiffel Tower or Sydney Opera House, contributes to its brand identity,” said the report.

The Marina Bay Sands brand had “extremely high familiarity rating, despite significant segments of the Singaporean community not participating in gambling activities due to religious and cultural factors,” stated Brand Finance.

It added a “key factor in the brand’s value growth” was its diversification in terms of revenue sources.

“Beyond its primary casino operations, Marina Bay Sands encompasses a hotel, shopping centre, restaurants, and entertainment facilities. This diversification strategy extends the brand’s market reach and helps mitigate potential industry-specific risks,” added the consultancy.

Ranking methodology

Brand Finance said that while “royalty relief” was an important indicator for brand value, “we always augment it with a real understanding of people’s perceptions and their effects on demand – from our database of market research on over 3,000 brands in over 30 markets”.

The Malaysia-founded Genting brand – which also has a Singapore presence via the Resorts World Sentosa complex, the other half of the city-state’s casino duopoly – is in third place, down one spot from 2023 – with a brand value put at just under US$3.54 billion, down 2.3 percent year-on-year.

The Genting group also has a global footprint, being present via the casino monopoly of Resorts World Genting in its home market, Malaysia, as well as the United States, the Bahamas, the United Kingdom, and Egypt.

In fifth place, down from third in 2023, is the Wynn Resorts brand of Wynn Resorts Ltd, with a brand value put at just under US$2.99 billion, a slip of 14.2 percent year-on-year. The brand is present in the Macau market via the Wynn Macau and Wynn Palace properties. It is also represented by the sub-brand Encore, at Encore Boston Harbor, in Massachusetts in the United States. The brand is also developing Wynn Al Marjan Island, in Ras Al Khaimah in the United Arab Emirates.

The Galaxy Macau brand – representative of the Cotai resort of that name run by Macau concessionaire Galaxy Entertainment Group Ltd – is in 10th position in the “Gambling 25 2024” brand-value report, down one place from last year, with an estimated brand value of US$2.00 billion, a 1.7 percent rise in valuation from 2023.

Also listed in the top-25 were: the MGM brand, which has a presence in Macau via the MGM Macau and MGM Cotai properties, and is to build an MGM Osaka casino resort in Japan; the Venetian Macao and Sands Macao, two properties run by Las Vegas Sands unit Sands China Ltd in Macau; the City of Dreams casino venue brand of Melco Resorts & Entertainment Ltd; and the Macau casino brand SJM of SJM Holdings Ltd.

Of the equipment suppliers, the IGT brand of International Game Technology Plc is highest, at 12th, down from 8th in 2023. The Aristocrat brand of Australian slot and content specialist Aristocrat Leisure Ltd is in 13th, down from 6th. The Novomatic brand of Austria’s Novomatic AG is up seven spots year-on-year, to 17th, while Light & Wonder Inc occupies the same 19th place it held in 2023.