MACAU — Las Vegas Sands Corp., controlled by billionaire Sheldon Adelson, said it may resume building in Macau this calendar year on optimism casino revenue is picking up.

"We have to get construction back to work as quickly as possible," Stephen Weaver, Asian regional president, told reporters at a briefing in Hong Kong today. Hong Kong, Macau and Singapore are still "very privileged" locations for the resort business in the long term, he added.

Las Vegas Sands, which lost 94 percent of its market value last year as gamblers stayed away from casinos in Las Vegas and Macau, suspended construction in both cities in November to finance the Singapore resort and a casino in Bethlehem, Pennsylvania. Government officials from Guangdong, Macau and Hong Kong met in February to discuss easing visa controls after China restricted travel by its residents to Macau early last year to curb gambling.