Fourth-quarter results for Sands China Ltd, the Macau operation of Las Vegas Sands Corp, saw a “big miss on margin,” said a Thursday note from banking group JP Morgan, after the parent issued group-wide figures overnight on Wednesday. The bank said Sands China’s fourth-quarter luck‑adjusted earnings before interest, taxation, depreciation and amortisation (EBITDA) of US$582 million were down 3 percent sequentially and down 2 percent year-on-year. “The culprit was margins”, wrote JP Morgan analysts DS Kim, Selina Li, and Lindsey Qian, describing Sands China’s fourth-quarter EBITDA margin as “really bad”. Some of those costs were associated to Sands China hosting preseason games for the National Basketball Association (NBA) in mid-October, and to Macau’s joint hosting in November of the 15th National Games of the People’s Republic of China. Aside from the six Macau casino concessionaires pledging funds to support the National Games, some also provided facilities to host certain sporting events.