Macau’s casino malaise deepened last month, with gaming revenue falling a 15th straight month as the opening of new gambling resorts failed to rouse a return of mainland Chinese visitors over the popular school holiday season.
Gross gaming revenue fell 35.5 percent to 18.6 billion patacas (US$2.3 billion), widening from July’s 34.5 percent drop, data from Macau’s Gaming Inspection and Coordination Bureau showed.
That compared with the median estimate of a 37.8 percent fall from seven analysts surveyed by Bloomberg.
The casino downturn has dragged Macau’s GDP to its lowest since 2011 as an economic slowdown in China curbed visits by mass-market gamblers and high-rollers avoided the city amid Beijing’s crackdown on graft.
While operators hoped new projects, including Galaxy Entertainment Group Ltd’s two casinos opened in May, would revive demand, travel to Macau fell in July with visitors from China — the biggest group — down 6.1 percent.
Galaxy’s table-only market share fell to 21.4 percent over the Aug. 1 to Aug. 23 period, from 23 percent in July, while rival Sands China Ltd’s grew to 24.6 percent from 23.4 percent, according to data from Barclays PLC.
Gross gaming revenue has fallen 36.5 percent this year. Last month’s deeper decline reversed an easing in the industry since February, when monthly revenue plunged by a record 48.6 percent.
In response to the casino industry downturn, Macau is to cut public spending by about 1.4 billion patacas this fiscal year, reducing costs in areas such as the purchase of daily supplies and third-party services, according to a Macau government statement posted yesterday.
China’s devaluation of the yuan might hinder Macau’s hoped-for recovery, as the weakening currency alone will have an 8 to 10 percent downward impact on mass gross gaming revenue next year, Daiwa Securities Co said in a research note last month.
As the yuan weakened against the US dollar in the past month, converting the Chinese currency to the greenback-pegged Hong Kong dollars will cost gamblers more, Daiwa said.
Macau casinos mainly accept Hong Kong dollars and Macau patacas, which is also pegged to Hong Kong’s currency.
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