Macau gaming revenue falls for 10th straight month, down 39pc in March
Macau's gaming revenue fell for the 10th straight month in March and suffered its second-worst year-on-year decline as Beijing continues to crack down on corruption.
Macau's gaming revenue fell for the 10th straight month in March and suffered its second-worst year-on-year decline as Beijing continues to crack down on corruption.
Gross gaming revenue last month plunged 39.4 per cent to 21.49 billion patacas, according to the Gaming Inspection and Coordination Bureau of Macau.
That was the second-worst drop ever after February's 48.6 per cent plunge. In contrast, revenue had jumped 40.3 per cent in February last year.
With the poor showing in February and March, Macau's gross gaming revenue has fallen 36.6 per cent to 64.78 billion patacas in the first quarter, the worst quarterly performance on record. In contrast, revenues had risen 19.8 per cent in the first quarter of last year.
"The near-term dynamics still don't look good. We now look for an 18 per cent drop in gross gaming revenue this year, well below current consensus," said a JP Morgan report.
"It's going to be a very hard year for Macau. What's really pulling down the figures are political factors. China's anti-corruption drive is stopping VIP guests from coming," said John Bruce, Macau director of Hong Kong risk consultancy Hill & Associates.
VIP guests account for most of the gaming revenue. Corrupt mainland fat cats are believed to be among them, laundering cash under the guise of gambling.
During a meeting in Beijing on Monday with Macau's Commission Against Corruption director Andre Cheong Weng-chon, mainland minister of supervision and deputy chief of the Central Commission for Discipline Inspection, Huang Shuxian , said he hoped to cooperate with the commission to track down fugitives and their money.
Bruce said Macau's gaming revenue would see a year-on-year recovery in the second half as collections began to slide in the same period last year, setting up a low base for comparison.
Although several new casinos, including those of Galaxy Entertainment and Melco Crown Entertainment, are due to open later this year, the territory's government has not yet granted gaming tables to these casinos, Bruce pointed out. That delay, he said, was due to indirect pressure from Beijing on the casinos to spend more on non-gaming activities.
