• Subscribe
  • Magazines
  • About
  • Contact
  • Advertise
Friday 9 May 2025
  • zh-hant 中文
  • ja 日本語
  • en English
IAG
Advertisement
  • Newsfeed
  • Mag Articles
  • Video
  • Opinion
  • Tags
  • Regional
    • Africa
    • Australia
    • Cambodia
    • China
    • CNMI
    • Europe
    • Hong Kong
    • India
    • Japan
    • Laos
    • Latin America
    • Malaysia
    • Macau
    • Nepal
    • New Zealand
    • North America
    • North Korea
    • Philippines
    • Russia
    • Singapore
    • South Korea
    • Sri Lanka
    • Thailand
    • UAE
    • Vietnam
  • Events
  • Contributors
  • SUBSCRIBE FREE
No Result
View All Result
IAG
  • Newsfeed
  • Mag Articles
  • Video
  • Opinion
  • Tags
  • Regional
    • Africa
    • Australia
    • Cambodia
    • China
    • CNMI
    • Europe
    • Hong Kong
    • India
    • Japan
    • Laos
    • Latin America
    • Malaysia
    • Macau
    • Nepal
    • New Zealand
    • North America
    • North Korea
    • Philippines
    • Russia
    • Singapore
    • South Korea
    • Sri Lanka
    • Thailand
    • UAE
    • Vietnam
  • Events
  • Contributors
  • SUBSCRIBE FREE
No Result
View All Result
IAG
No Result
View All Result

Macau’s September Down by Double Digits

Newsdesk by Newsdesk
Thu 2 Oct 2014 at 05:37
Print Friendly, PDF & Email

Indications are that September will be the worst revenue month for Macau’s casinos since the global financial crisis.

Ahead of an official tally due for release tomorrow, the government’s Secretary for Economy and Finance Francis Tam said the casinos’ take dropped 12-13% year on year, according to television station Teledifusao de Macau. It will be the fourth consecutive month of declines as a combination of negative factors—mainly China’s slowing economy, President Xi Jinping’s crackdown on corruption and a tightening of visa rules affecting mainland travel—continue to take a toll on volumes at the city’s vaunted baccarat tables, particularly among the biggest spenders.

The last time monthly gaming revenue declined by double digits was in the depths of the financial crisis in 2009, when it fell by 18% in June of that year.

In one of the clearest indications yet that gamblers are spending less, the self-governing territory—the largest casino revenue market in the world and the only place in China where casinos are legal—set a record for tourist arrivals in August, a month when gaming revenue fell 6.1% compared with August 2013, the biggest slide up to that point in five years. Revenue was down 3.6% year on year in July, 3.7% in June.

The VIP sector, which is fueled by credit play supplied by the casinos’ junket partners, is the most vulnerable to volatility on the mainland, be it economic and/or political, and it’s been suffering the greatest percentage declines and taking down the overall market with it, an outgrowth of the fact that it accounts for upwards of 65% of total revenues.

Analysts and observers have identified a number of causes, all of them interrelated in varying degrees. A crackdown on abuses in the visa system is curtailing allowable trips to Macau. Beijing’s campaign against corruption in government, the Communist Party and the state-owned enterprises has put a chill on lavish spending. Economic growth is slowing, which is impacting mainland property prices, a leading source of private wealth. Credit markets are tightening in response, and this is exposing fissures in the financial system. Against this backdrop, overseas capital flight has emerged as a major concern for the central government, and this has turned an unwelcome spotlight on the junkets, which also are wrestling with liquidity issues, the smaller, less well-capitalized promoters and their agents in particular, with credit harder to come by and gamblers borrowing less and taking longer to repay.

Worse, the effects now appear to be filtering down to the higher-margin mass market, where growth has cooled significantly from the triple-digit rates seen prior to July. For most analysts this is cause for even greater concern, and it is drawing a line under a number of pre-existing problems: namely, a labor market that is maxed out under current conditions and driving up operating costs; a government cap on the annual supply of new table games; and a main-floor smoking ban that comes into force on 6th October.

The investment houses largely have written off 2014 and are looking to next year and the opening of the first of six super-resorts under construction at the Cotai reclamation district to re-energize the market and juice visitation and gambling demand with new must-see attractions.

But expectations for Cotai in the shorter term are more muted now. Deutsche Bank, for one, has cut its 2015 revenue growth estimate to 1% from 10% market-wide, versus current consensus, which is looking for 8-12% on the plus side.

UBS, in its latest report, forecasts VIP revenue will decline 10% year on year from 2015 through 2017 against 10% annual increases in the mass market over the same period and overall declines of 1% to 2%.

 

RelatedPosts

Analysts Bearish as Macau’s Slump Is Expected To Continue

Fri 2 Jan 2015 at 23:24

Macau’s November Down Nearly 20%

Mon 1 Dec 2014 at 07:28

Red October: Mass Plummets, Comps Get Tougher

Thu 6 Nov 2014 at 07:16

Second Down Month for Macau in July

Mon 4 Aug 2014 at 01:30
Load More
Tags: Macau Gaming Revenues
ShareShare
Newsdesk

Newsdesk

Current Issue

Editorial – Knife’s edge

Editorial – Knife’s edge

by Andrew W Scott and Ben Blaschke
Tue 29 Apr 2025 at 15:14

Thailand’s Entertainment Complex journey is at a critical point, with the success or failure of the initiative to be determined...

The changing face of Macau

The changing face of Macau

by Ben Blaschke
Tue 29 Apr 2025 at 15:09

Inside Asian Gaming takes a deep dive into the new, post-COVID Macau where a revenue environment that seems to be...

Born again

Born again

by Pierce Chan
Tue 29 Apr 2025 at 14:47

Premiering in September 2010 at City of Dreams, The House of Dancing Water was a visionary creation by artistic maestro...

Richard Howarth – Testing the limits

Richard Howarth – Testing the limits

by Ben Blaschke
Tue 29 Apr 2025 at 13:17

Richard Howarth, Chief Business Officer APAC for global testing laboratory GLI, discusses his career journey and his passion for fast-paced...

Evolution Asia
Aristocrat
GLI
Mindslot
Solaire
Hann
Tecnet
Nustar
Jumbo

Related Posts

Japan Credit Rating Agency affirms Konami’s A+ rating due to “high earning capacity”

Stability in Australia, North America drives 7.4% revenue growth for Konami’s gaming segment in FY25

by Newsdesk
Fri 9 May 2025 at 06:48

Global gaming supplier Konami reported a 7.4% increase in revenue in its Gaming & Systems segment to JPY42.7 billion in the year ended 31 March 2025, with operating profit up by 16.3% to JPY7.3 billion, according to financial statements published...

MGM’s Hornbuckle bullish on “unique” Macau as China stimulus uncertainty sees gaming stocks dive

MGM’s Bill Hornbuckle extends employment contract through end-2028

by Ben Blaschke
Fri 9 May 2025 at 06:34

MGM Resorts CEO and President Bill Hornbuckle has renewed his employment contract with the company through to the end of 2028, after which time he will assume an advisory role to assist with the pre-opening phase of its US$9 billion...

Winds of change

Melco says working with potential buyers on bidding process for City of Dreams Manila

by Ben Blaschke
Fri 9 May 2025 at 06:16

Melco Resorts & Entertainment said Thursday that it is currently in discussions with potential buyers of its stake in Philippines integrated resort City of Dreams Manila and will soon have a shortlist of interested parties that will partake in a...

Melco prices US$750 million Senior Notes offering

Melco smashes revenue and profit estimates in 1Q25, gains market share on powerful performance of Macau resorts

by Ben Blaschke
Fri 9 May 2025 at 05:36

An impressively strong performance in Macau was enough to see Melco Resorts & Entertainment comfortably beat consensus in 1Q25, with the company reporting a 10.8% year-on-year increase in total operating revenues to US$1.23 billion including a 12.2% rise in gaming...



IAG

© 2005-2024
Inside Asian Gaming.
All rights reserved.

  • SUBSCRIBE FREE
  • NEWSFEED
  • MAG ARTICLES
  • VIDEO
  • OPINION
  • TAGS
  • REGIONAL
  • EVENTS
  • CONSULTING
  • CONTRIBUTORS
  • MAGAZINES
  • ABOUT
  • CONTACT
  • ADVERTISE

Welcome Back!

Login to your account below

Forgotten Password?

Retrieve your password

Please enter your username or email address to reset your password.

Log In

Add New Playlist

No Result
View All Result
  • Subscribe
  • Newsfeed
  • Mag Articles
  • Video
  • Opinion
  • Tags
  • Regional
  • Events
  • Contributors
  • Magazines
  • Advertise
  • Contact
  • About
  • Home for G2E Asia

© 2005-2024
Inside Asian Gaming.
All rights reserved.

  • English