Macau recorded gross gaming revenue of MOP$19.99 billion in June, representing a 25.9% year-on-year increase and the 11th consecutive month of growth.
The results were largely in line with early June consensus but fell below the revised consensus of better than 30% growth predicted by a number of analysts following a better than expected start the month. Chinese President Xi Jinping’s visit to Hong Kong last week to celebrate the 20th anniversary of the Hong Kong SAR is believed to have played a significant role in slowing down visitation over the final few days of the calendar month.
Nevertheless, GGR for 2Q17 came in 21.9% higher than the same period in 2016 while revenue for the first six months of the year is up 17.2%. June revenue averaged MOP$666 million per day, down 9% sequentially from May.
With the calendar having now ticked over into 3Q, Union Gaming analyst Grant Govertsen said Macau can expect slowing growth for the remainder of 2017.
“We are currently forecasting 15% year-on-year growth (for 3Q) and 2% sequential growth,” Govertsen said. “This includes 18% growth in July, 16% growth in August and 11% growth in September. We expect July to start rather slowly due to Xi Jinping’s visit to Hong Kong.
“Heading into 4Q17, we are currently forecasting 7% year-on-year growth (and 2% sequential growth) but are biased to the upside due to what appears to be a return to some normalcy as it relates to historic seasonal trends, as well as the benefit of new supply. This pencils out to our full-year forecast of +14%.”
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