Macau is fast becoming a victim of its own success, and while Beijing is clearly worried, it has fumbled in its attempts to address the city's problems.
Casino revenues shot up a better than expected 69.78 per cent last month - to 9.78 billion patacas from 5.76 billion patacas a year earlier - and nobody was happy about it.
Guangdong province responded by launching yet another round of restrictions on travel to Macau, after previous measures implemented on June 1 failed to have any discernible impact.
Investors responded by further selling-down shares of gaming companies, which are already depressed on concerns over collapsing profit margins.
Melco International Development's stock fell 16.4 per cent during the week to HK$6.40, while Galaxy Entertainment shed 22.6 per cent to close at HK$3.82 per share.
Both stocks are down more than 45 per cent in the year to date, and are trading at their lowest levels since 2005.