Macau's gambling industry enters 'stable' phase, says top official
Macau's gaming industry will see single-digit growth this year and is entering a "stable" phase, the city's secretary for economy and finance, Francis Tam Pak-yuen, said.
Macau's gaming industry will see single-digit growth this year and is entering a "stable" phase, the city's secretary for economy and finance, Francis Tam Pak-yuen, said.
Tam's comments were posted yesterday on the Macau government website as the city's gaming inspection and coordination bureau released numbers for last month that show a second consecutive month of decline.
Extremely rapid growth is not reasonable and a stable pace will become the norm
Gross gaming revenue dropped 3.6 per cent to 28.42 billion patacas, compared with a year ago, in line with market expectations.
In the year to date, Macau casino revenue was 221.5 billion patacas, up 10.2 per cent over the same period last year.
Tam said, "The gaming industry had been open for 10 years. The initial stage of development was more rapid and at present, had entered a stable phase of development. Hoping for extremely rapid growth is not reasonable and a stable pace will become the norm."
After enjoying years of double-digit growth, Macau's gaming revenue has started to drop off as economic growth on the mainland, which supplies the gaming hub with the majority of its visitors, slows down.