Sands China denies its app was hit with Beijing’s ban-hammer

Casino operator Las Vegas Sands is denying media reports that its Sands China division had a mobile app banned by Chinese authorities.

Last week, China’s Office of the Central Cyberspace Affairs Commission announced that it had banned 3,469 mobile apps involved in “pornography, gambling, illegal games and malicious programs.” The report said these apps were capable of “great social harm” and must be “attacked by all means.”

Among the apps hit with China’s ban hammer was one bearing the Chinese character for Sands Macao (澳门金沙), the name of one of Sands China’s casino properties in Macau. Sands China does have a ‘Sands Resorts Macao’ app for promoting its non-gambling amenities, as promotion of gambling is illegal on the Chinese mainland.

A few days later, Sands China issued a statement to the Macau News Agency stating that “all our official mobile apps continue to be accessible and function normally from within China. Our applications and websites comply strictly with Chinese rules and regulations.”