Macau is known to be a gamblers heaven and people from all over the world come down here to try their luck. This is the reason all year round Macau is flocked with tourists from different countries. There are many world class casinos and resorts which offer amazing deals and offers to tourists and this makes it more than a reason for people to visit Macau. However, since last few years, Macau casino industry was facing a big downturn and the results were not that promising. Finally, it is a good news for Macau’s struggling casino industry that now it continues to recover and the city state’s casino gross gaming revenue posted an 8.8 percent year on year increase in October, to MOP21.82 billion (USD2.73 billion) according to Macau gaming regulator Gaming Inspection and Coordination Bureau.
Since January 2015, October was the best month for the world’s biggest casino hub when GGR totaled MOP 23.84 billion according to the regulator. With this, it also marked the third consecutive month of year on year growth for Macau which recorded its first growth in August after 26 straight months of decline. As per analyst expectations, this growth was attributed to newly opened casino resorts that boosted spending in the special administrative region.
Union Gaming analyst Grant Govertsen said in a note that “We would expect all of the Macau Big 6 names to rally on today’s GGR data with further good news likely this week on select 3Q16 earnings calls. In particular, we are looking for a positive tone out of Sands China, which we believe is experiencing strong mass market trends following the opening of Parisian.”
Govertsen further added, “With the most recently opened new supply entering into their third and second full months of operations, we expect the GGR story to largely mimic what was seen in mid/late September.” He said, the recent arrests in mainland China will not affect Macau’s industry. If anything, the incident could even result in a “net benefit” for the special administrative region.
“As non-Macau companies shy away from VIP activities in China, albeit perhaps temporarily, this should generally accrue to Macau’s benefit. The Crown arrests already seem to have a knock-on effect on other operators in the same area (Australia, New Zealand) pulling back resources from China.”
