Macau’s gross gaming revenue rebounded strongly in August, growing 17.1% year-on-year to MOP$26.6 billion – the second highest amount in absolute terms in 2018, behind only February.
The August figure, coming in comfortably above consensus, represents a 25th consecutive month of GGR growth for Asia’s gaming hub after a significant deceleration in June and July. It also takes accumulated GGR for the first eight months of 2018 to MOP$202.1 billion – up 17.5% on the same period last year.
Notably, August included the 12-month anniversary of Typhoon Hato, the T10 Typhoon that devastated Macau on 23 August 2017 and caused considerable damage to a number of the city’s integrated resorts.
Nevertheless, Union Gaming analyst Grant Govertsen described this year’s August results as “cause for optimism” with GGR having clearly accelerated in the last month of summer.
“Even more importantly, we continue to believe that mass market remains the strongest segment, likely at or north of a 20% growth rate, with VIP remaining in the mid-teens,” Govertsen added. “Based on recent conversations we’ve had with VIP junkets, we get the sense that business remains good and is maintaining a mid-teens trajectory despite fears to the contrary. To date, there has been no negative reaction (or even precautions) taken by VIP customers as it relates to trade wars and the potential impacts thereof. By and large, VIP and other premium customers have not changed trip frequency or their wallet size.”
Early predictions for September have GGR growing at around 15%.
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