Gaming revenues won’t feel the pinch
Analysts say gross gaming revenue (GGR) for August is unlikely to be significantly impacted by the two typhoons that struck the city last week, due to a strong posting for the first 20 days of the month and the speedy recovery of integrated resorts.
The results, which will be announced by the Gaming Inspection and Coordination Bureau (DICJ) on Friday, are expected to show strong year-on-year growth. According to some predictions, GGR growth for the month may exceed 20 percent despite the weather disruptions.
“August is still going to be up [over last year],” Union Gaming analyst Grant Govertsen told the Times yesterday. “There will be strong growth, but less than we would have expected even a week ago.”
“Based on the severity of Hato and the follow-on storm on Sunday, we would expect the growth rate to be affected by 500 or 600 basis points [5 or 6 percent],” added Govertsen.
August GGR had been tracking for a 25 percent increase year-on-year prior to the arrival of Typhoon Hato. Due to the closure of public roads and the ferry links with the mainland, as well as a limited supply of power available to integrated resorts, the forecast was later revised.
Brokerage firm Sanford C. Bernstein downgraded its forecast by several percent after news of the scale of the devastation broke.
However, casino operators appear to be at the forefront of the recovery, and are expected to resume normal operations faster than most of the rest of the city.
This is particularly true for the Cotai properties, which were less affected than those on the peninsula.
According to data provided by DICJ, GGR reached MOP23 billion in July 2017, up by more than 29 percent from MOP17.77 billion in the same month last year. August 2016 GGR reached MOP18.83 billion and marked the first month of year-on-year growth since mid-2014.
For the first seven months of the year, gaming revenues are tracking 18.9 percent higher than the comparative period in 2016, with year-on-year growth registered in every month. DB
