Gaming | December expected to be the worst performing month of the year

Gaming operators are expected to end the month with a 30 percent year-on-year drop in gross revenue. If the estimate made yesterday by Lusa news agency becomes a reality, it means that the last month of the year will have brought 2014’s worst results.
Lusa compiled data obtained amongst gaming operators indicating that gaming revenue up to 15 December totaled 11.2 billion. Taking that amount as a strong indicator, the Portuguese news agency predicts that monthly revenue will lag between MOP23 and 24 billion.
These results would amount to a drop somewhere between 28 and 31 percent and casinos would close the year with revenues of around 351 to 352 billion patacas. That represents a 3 percent drop comparing with the previous year.
Lusa stresses that the estimate is made taking into account the first half of the month and that it is subject to market changes. In a more optimistic view, it admits that the December results will follow the average revenues between June and November (MOP 27b), which would represent a 19.3 percent drop.
But the gaming operators contacted by Lusa instead say that the revenues will take a significant drop, “closer to 30 than 20 percent.”
“The drop will be stronger and all daily indicators give a projection very close or slightly above 30 percent,” a gaming source told the agency. MDT/Lusa