Gaming revenue to drop by 21 pct in November

Macau’s gaming revenue will drop by 21 percent in November. If the prediction made by Lusa news agency is confirmed, the accumulated revenue of the 11 months of 2014 will be almost similar to the revenue generated in 2013. Lusa cites gaming sources from MGM and Melco Crown, concluding that the November casino revenue will fall to MOP23.9 billion. In November 2013 the revenue reached MOP30.1 billion.
Lusa points out that results calculated close to the end of the month are slightly better that what was estimated in mid-November, when gaming sources indicated a 24 percent fall at the end of the month.
Separately, the University of Macau’s Institute for the Study of Commercial Gaming (ISCG). director, Prof Davis Fong, said that the gaming revenue decline will continue until next May. According to Fong, the casino industry is undergoing an adjustment period, which he considers normal. He views the factors leading to the current decline as mostly “one-off factors,” such as the illegal use of credit card cash.
Meanwhile, wealth effects will slowly emerge from some positive factors, such as nterest rate cuts and an upward stock market in mainland China. Davis Fong predicted that the gaming revenue could resume its positive growth by the summer holidays next year, which would still depend on the tourist volume. If the number of tourists leads to an increase in the number of mass floor gamblers, the mass floor and the VIP rooms might divide the revenue evenly, he argued.