Macau casinos suffer third straight month of falling revenue
Revenue drops for the third straight month as high-rolling mainland gamblers hold back
Gambling revenue in Macau's casinos dropped for the third consecutive month in August as high-rolling mainland gamblers held back on big-ticket punting since Beijing intensified its crackdown on corruption.
That sparked a sell-off of the Hong Kong-listed casino majors, prompting further concerns over their ability to tackle a deepening slowdown, with the new supply of casinos at the Cotai strip beginning operations from the middle of next year.
Gross gambling revenue in the world's largest casino market fell 6.1 per cent to 28.88 billion patacas last month, dashing market expectations of a rebound.
In the first eight months, gross gambling revenue, a broader gauge of the city's gambling activities that is closely watched by the stock market, rose 8.1 per cent, down from 10.2 per cent in the first seven months.
Shares of the six casino concessionaries dropped in a range between 2 and 4 per cent, underperforming a mild increase in the city's Hang Seng Index. MGM China shares dropped the most, giving up 3.5 per cent to end at HK$24.75 yesterday.
Blue-chip casino duo Sands China and Galaxy Entertainment declined by 3.2 and 2.9 per cent respectively.